Will Of Stone
by sadfascist
Summary: Timeskip: Sakura travels to the Earth Country to take the Iwa chuunin exam. Waiting for her there is a place of ancient wonder… violent trials… star-crossed love… and a conspiracy that threatens world peace itself. An epic novel.
1. A Seething Heart

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER ONE: "A Seething Heart"**

* * *

"My ass feels like a bitch that can't shut up," Rhino protested. "I need some _action_!"

"And I need a pack of cigs. Do you think if I went over to Akatsuki and asked them real nicely they'd share with me?" Beater wondered.

The laughter of the other ANBU crackled through Sakura's wireless earpiece. They had been hiding out in the trees for the whole night, staking out an Akatsuki meeting on the edge of the Fire Country. This was Sakura's first serious mission since becoming the Hokage's apprentice four months ago, and she was trying very hard to be serious. The ANBU making lame jokes in her ear were not helping.

Down below, in the clearing, three Akatsuki terrorists had already arrived for the meeting. One of the men yawned. Another paced back and forth like a schizophrenic, clutching a metal suitcase chained to his wrist. The third terrorist was leaning against a tree and smoking a cigar.

Rhino sighed with feeling. "Ain't that terr'ist look like the most comfortable motherfucka in the universe! Hey, Saint, you gettin' pictures of this, right?"

"Yeah, I'm immortalizing them," Saint answered. "Akatsuki boobs. Smoking, god. I mean, you could get lung cancer doing that."

"Good help's so hard to find these days," said Beater.

Laughter roared out over the radio. "Don't you start talking trash, Beater!" said Rhino. "Who took that nap at the last stakeout? Man, any more of this shit from you and I'm gonna have to stick sweet little Sakura and Ino on your ass to teach you a lesson."

"Sakura could take Beater by herself," Asuma declared, getting in on the act.

"Hey!" Beater protested. "Now hold on—"

"She'd only have to use one hand," Asuma said. "She'd blow you a kiss and then it would all be over!"

Peering up from her infrared binoculars Sakura looked over at Ino and Chouji, crouching on the tree branch next to her. She could barely make out their faces in the darkness of night, but she could hear Ino giggling, and Chouji was pretty much doubling over in laughter. Sakura sighed.

"You got it all wrong, bro," Beater said. "What do you think I am, some kind of predator? Now, sweet little Sakura's _sensei_, there's a fine woman—"

"The Hokage would blow your brains out if you ever tried anything!" Saint said.

"You don't know shit, Saint. You didn't hear what she said to me yesterday."

"What?"

"Remember when the Hokage pulled me aside after the rest of you guys left? 'Oh Beater,' she said, 'you fine strong man. Please be careful on the mission. It's so important.' So I said, 'Course, Hokage-sama. I know how much the United Countries organization means to you.' Then she cupped her hands on my face and whispered, 'Oh Beater. You _are_ my United Countries."

"Shit, in your dreams!" Rhino laughed.

"In your dreams too—"

"That's enough, all of you," a voice said quietly. The First ANBU Captain. "It's almost time for the Akatsuki meeting. Focus."

"Aw, come'on, Cap. It's just a B-rank mission."

"Beater, are you... talking back to me?" the Captain asked. He made it sound like this was the most terrifying thing in the world.

"Uh, no! No, sir!" The other ANBU laughed.

A hush fell over the wireless. Down below in the clearing, the three terrorists were moving. The lazy ninja stamped out his cigarette, and the nervous one unchained the metal case from his wrist. They were expecting somebody. Somebody important. Sakura pressed the infrared binoculars against her eyes, scanning the clearing. She saw it all: the clearing, the vast forests of the Fire Country that surrounded it, the three terrorist ninjas below. It was far into the night, but with the infrared she could have seen their faces if they weren't wearing masks.

Suddenly the young ninja was conscious of the weight of the forehead protector she wore, and all that it represented: the symbol of her hidden ninja village, the swirling leaf of Konoha. The cold metal of the headplate pressed her skin through the cloth. At the same time the young ninja felt a tense warm heat run through her. It was the feeling of danger, of fear. Yeah, it was only a B-rank mission, just a low-level stakeout, but still... _This is it_, she thought. _This is my chance to prove myself to Tsunade-sensei_. She was the one saw it first.

"Look! By the rocks to the north," Sakura said. "There's a… thing."

That was the only word she could think of to describe it. The thing was slowly rising out from the ground.

"What the hell is that?" asked Ino.

"Zetsu," said the ANBU Captain, sounding surprised. "Akatsuki second-in-command."

The top of the thing cracked apart, splitting down the center, and the two halves opened up like the jaws of a gigantic Venus flytrap. Inside the jaws Sakura saw the grinning head and upper chest of a man. Then the rest of the man-thing surfaced, relatively normal—with arms and legs—wrapped in the black and red cloak of Akatsuki. The three masked terrorists hurried to meet him, bowing with respect.

"A plant with legs, can this get any more creepy?" Beater said.

"Do you even got to ask?" Rhino said.

"Rhino, Saint, Asuma, circle around to triangulate," the Captain said. "Beater, drop the bug. The kids, stay where you are and watch. Do not take action except by my direct authorization."

"Bug deployed," said Beater. The bug was a small little pyramid-shaped thing the size of a ping-pong ball, shot into the ground and wired with a powerful microphone. Just close enough to pick up the conversation.

Zetsu was the first voice beamed into the team's earpieces. "_Sshow_ me," he said, a slurred inhuman babble that reminded Sakura of a serpent's hiss.

"It's here, Zetsu-sama," the man with the metal suitcase said. His voice was not like Zetsu's. It was hard, cutting, each syllable pronounced like a knife's edge. Judging by the accent, the man was from the Earth Country.

He knelt down and typed a code on the keypad of the case. The locks on the case popped apart. He offered it to Zetsu.

Zetsu took the suitcase and opened it up. Sakura was facing in the right direction. Through the binoculars she could make out some sort of scrollwork along the inside of the case, and in the center, a very bright, glowing thing which shimmered and throbbed and pulsed. Like a seething heart. A crystal.

"Yesss… very good," Zetsu said. He snapped the case shut and it disappeared into his cloak.

"As promised, we've fulfilled our side of the contract," said the ninja with the suitcase. "Now, for your part…"

"Contract?" Saint whispered over the wireless. "What're they talking about? Aren't those guys part of Akatsuki?"

Zetsu laughed. He sounded like a hissing hyena. "Yess, of course… the _contrac__t_. Tell your leader that Akatsuki will deliver the prototype in due time."

"We want our people to observe development. Where is your lab?"

"In the —" Zetsu paused, cocked his head to one side. "What is that?"

"What's what?"

The man-thing seemed to be searching for something. "I smelled… no. Itss gone now. For a _moment_…"

"Fuck!" Rhino said. "Should we move?"

"Wait," said the Captain. "We need to know more about this deal. Ride it out."

The three masked ninja peered into the forest. "You think there's somebody there?" the suitcase ninja asked.

"Perhaps… or nothing… make ssure…" Zetsu made a series of hand seals and under his feet a large, flat white glowing disc blinked into existence, like a searchlight. Smaller discs started to bud out from the main disc, sweeping outwards along the ground in all directions. Sakura lowered her binoculars and watched the herd of tiny searchlights plunge into the forest.

"A tracking jutsu," the Captain whispered. "He's a sensor. He must have sensed someone's chakra signature. Everyone suppress your chakra, now!"

The white searchlights rushed through the forest. They were triangulating, converging towards—

"They're going after the kids!" Asuma shouted. "But who… Sakura! You're the only one with enough chakra!"

_Me?_ Then Sakura realized. She had been so focused on the mission, so excited, she had forgotten…

"Sakura! Kill your chakra now!" Asuma shouted.

_Fuck! This can't be happening! _She concentrated with wide eyes, tried to suppress it. She could feel herself going cold. It was working…

"Hurry, Sakura!" Ino said from the other branch. The searchlights were everywhere around them. Damnit, Sakura, concentrate—

A small white ring of light enveloped her.

All of the searchlights in the forest suddenly shined bright red.

"Fuck!" the ANBU all shouted at once.

"Attack!" yelled the Captain.

"_Incompetentsss!_" the plant man-thing screamed through her earpiece. "We are disscovered! Kill them all! Kill them! BURN! BURRRNNN!"

At the climax of Zetsu's scream a five-story-high wave of roaring fire erupted from the clearing. The fire rushed directly at Sakura.

"Run!" Chouji shouted. The three genin jumped out of the tree and ran. The gigantic wave of fire just missed them, but the force of the shockwave knocked them back into the air hard. Sakura landed on her side, rolling across the muddy dirt. Groaning she managed to stagger to her feet. There was silence over the radio. Her headset was gone.

Her infrared was gone too, but there was no need for it. The forest burned. Wild tongues of flame leapt from trunk to trunk, lighting up trees like chandeliers in the dark.

A human girl lay crumbled up under one of them.

"Ino!" Sakura cried. She rushed over to her. No, there was a pulse. Ino was still alive, just unconscious. Had to get her somewhere safe, then—

Zetsu burst out of the ground right in front of her. Sakura stumbled back, horrified. The thing's body was split down the middle, half black and half white, grotesquely misshapen.

"Pretty leaf-nin girl," Zetsu hissed. "So youre the one… I _smelled_…"

"Fuck you," Sakura said.

"Dont be offended. You smelled very nisse." He licked his lips and laughed. His tongue was forked. A huge, long thorn grew out of his hand, a hideous thorn-sword. The sword was dark green and dripped smoking venom. Zetsu started to stalk toward her.

He was too close, it was impossible to run. None of her jutsu were strong enough. Except for…

"Binding!" Sakura shouted at him desperately. The jutsu was only half-learned at best but it was her only chance.

For the briefest of instants Zetsu froze in mid-step as his muscles locked up, immobilized by Sakura's illusion attack. Then the instant passed and he laughed. "A genjutsu? What an interesting little thing you are. Ye_ss_… Ill have ssuch fun tonight… when I _eat_ you…"

He rushed at Sakura.

The attack was blocked. Blue glowing trench knives held back the sword of thorns. Asuma! Just as quickly Asuma pivoted and roundhouse kicked Zetsu to the face. The huge power of the kick pushed the man-thing back five meters, his feet skidding in the mud. But Zetsu didn't lose his balance. Instead his head spun around wildly on his neck, round and round like a toy top.

"What in the name of the Sage of Six Paths…" Asuma said.

Zetsu laughed loudly. He reached up with his hands and placed his head in its original position. Then he licked his lips with his forked tongue.

"Are you okay?" Asuma said to Sakura, his eyes still fixed on Zetsu.

"Yeah…"

Now the Captain and Saint landed next to them. The ANBU's carved masks flashed red in the flames.

"More leaf-nin! Ill be full for weeks!" cried Zetsu. A second thorn sword surged eagerly out of his other hand.

"Yasunari Zetsu, in the name of the Fire Country I charge you with terrorism and conspiracy against world peace," said the Captain. "Surrender or be taken by force."

Zetsu laughed.

Saint charged at Zetsu with his katana. As Saint swung Zetsu melted into the ground. Before Sakura could react the thing had leapt up from behind them! He was so fast—

But the Captain was faster. A bolt of lightning erupted from the Captain's hands and struck Zetsu directly in the chest. Zetsu screamed. The blast blew him back a dozen meters in the air and he fell in an awkward heap. Right away the thing sprang up again, but he was not laughing now. The big smoking hole straight through his stomach had spoiled the mood. "How dare you!" he shrieked.

Right on cue a wood bunshin of the Captain jumped from the ground behind Zetsu and grabbed Zetsu around the waist. The bunshin exploded. A thick ball of impenetrable wood burst around Zetsu, encasing him within it. A wood prison.

"Enemy captured," the Captain said.

"Ahhh!" Zetsu shrieked from inside the prison. "Youll pay for thissss!"

"Wow, that was easy. Good work," Asuma said.

It was not three seconds later when a huge venom-dripping spike rammed through the wall of the wood prison.

"Perhaps I spoke prematurely," said the Captain.

"This always happens when you show off," said Saint.

The spikes shot out as fast as arrows, hundreds of them. The prison shattered. More spikes erupted from the ground in every direction, black thorns spiraling in a twisting web. No escape. The thorns came down on the Leaf ninja like a vise. They were all going to be impaled—

"Mokuton: Shiro Shussei," said the Captain. _Wood Release: White Creation Rebirth._

A gigantic white banyan tree burst under and around them, shooting up towards the sky. Within moments the leaf-nin were ten stories high in the air, layered deep within branches hard and white as polished bone. The web of black thorns wrapped around the tree like a thousand chains, trying to constrict it, slice it apart. The tree fought back, branches sprouting out as fast as they could be cut. There was an ear splitting hissing and screeching, and the earth shook.

The Captain pressed his hands against the white bark, pouring out his chakra into the tree. He grunted with the effort. "This mission has gone way beyond B-rank. Get the kids out of here," he said, referring to Sakura and the still unconscious Ino.

"The radios aren't working. Too much static," said Saint.

"Just go, Saint. Find the others if you can. I'll handle the—what th—"

The trunk of the white banyan tree glowed red for a split second, like it was being superheated from the inside. Then it violently exploded.

"Shit! It's Bakudan!" Asuma shouted. "Sougon!"

"Jump!" the Captain yelled.

Sakura jumped. A second later the trunkless crown of the tree detonated like an over-pressurized furnace. The roaring shockwave blasted her forward in the air. She managed to catch herself on the hanging branches of a nearby tree. Then she was running fast away from that place, jumping from tree to tree between the mazes of thorns. She did not stop until she had run out of breath. Then she looked back.

A tall white stump jutted up from the earth, like a dead statue with its body cut off. Above it, where the tree had been, there was a haze of shimmering steam the color of gold…

_What jutsu was that__?_

What the fuck was going on? The girl could hear distant shouts, the sounds of explosions. The smell of smoke filled her mouth. The others were fighting. Should she try to help? No. She had done enough of that tonight. Just… just stay out of the way…

The air in front of her exploded.

The attack just narrowly missed. She staggered back, looking around her frantically. She saw him just in time. The masked ninja was crouched on a burning branch above her. He was close enough that she could look into his uncovered eyes, dark and slitted.

His eyes shimmered gold—

Sakura leapt to the side. The branch she had been standing on right before exploded.

"Die!" the ninja shouted. She had heard his voice before.

The ninja's eyes glowed again. She dodged the explosion again. Again. Again.

_I can't keep this up!_ Had to run away somehow. Ahead of her she saw a small, dense grove of trees. She jumped into it, panting and desperate. _Think, Sakura, hide somewhere_!

Something hit her hard in the chest. She flew back into a tree trunk and cried out in pain, falling, crashing to the ground floor. On her hands and knees in the mud, dazed, the girl could barely manage to raise her head to see her attacker. The man was silhouetted black against the burning forest. He stretched out the palm of his hand toward her, and then his eyes were gold flames.

"Bakudan," the man said.

The explosion struck with fatal force.

But Sakura was not dead. She had been shoved to the side at the last moment.

Instead Sarutobi Asuma lay on the ground in the place where she had been.

"Asuma-sama!" Sakura screamed.

The masked ninja laughed. "That's one ape down." He stepped toward Sakura. She could see the inflamed network of blood vessels coiled around his dark pupils.

Sakura threw a kunai at him, weakly, clumsily. The man swatted it away with the back of his hand. "You stupid ape. Do you think those little daggers can hurt me?" he asked. Sakura flung more kunai anyway. The man laughed. "You stupid tree-fucker—"

"Binding," Sakura whispered.

The ninja's muscles froze for a fraction of a second. But it was enough. The kunai got him straight through the left eye. Into his brain.

"Ahh!" the man shrieked, clutching his face in agony. Sakura hurled more kunai at him. The man stumbled out of the grove, fleeing blindly.

"Fuck you!" Sakura shouted after him. But she didn't try to give chase. _Asuma__-sama_. He had saved her life twice. She crawled over to him and turned him over onto his back. The explosion hadn't quite hit him directly, but close enough. The front of his chest was a hole, the ribcage was blasted away. But somehow he was still alive.

_Got to heal it…_ She plunged her hands into his chest. Thick hot blood washed over her, spraying all over her arms and body and face. _Got to heal it. _There was so much damage. She couldn't… she wasn't Tsunade-sensei, she didn't know how to fix this kind of damage! She felt Asuma's heart under the palms of her hands, warm, beating. Then she felt it stop.

No! Restart the heart. She had to restart it. _Focus, Sakura_. Focus. Figure out the right healing technique—brute force. Raw chakra. That was the only way. She poured waves of chakra energy into Asuma's body, draining all of hers. He needed more. More… more… yes! His heart moved. He was breathing. He was alive. Sakura worked desperately, pumping all her chakra into him, healing as much as she could, stabilizing him one step at a time. Slowly, gradually, the wound began to close up. She had done it.

Sakura leaned back against the tree, exhausted, gasping for air and clutching her stinging ribs. She was out of chakra. The heal was barely enough.

"Sakura! Asuma-sensei!" a voice called. She looked up. It was Chouji, jumping down beside her. The Captain and Saint landed next to him. Chouji was carrying Ino in his arms. "Asuma-sensei! Is he—"

"Alive. I healed him, but we got to take him to Konoha right away, or…"

The Captain went over to Asuma's body and examined it quickly. He placed a small white seed on top of Asuma's chest. It burrowed inside him, infusing him with chakra to buy time.

"Did you…?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

The Captain's face was hidden behind his carved ANBU mask, painted like the jaws of a wolf. But she could guess his expression. "Zetsu escaped," he said. "We managed to get this." He held up half of a burned steel case, torn in half at the hinges. The glowing crystal they had seen before was gone.

"Captain!" a voice called. Another ANBU ninja landed next to them. It was Rhino. He was holding something to his chest, but Sakura couldn't make it out.

"Report," the Captain said.

"They got away," Rhino said, his voice strange, like it was hard to speak. "Captain… they were Sougon… we didn't know… Beater … he…"

Then Sakura saw what it was that Rhino was holding. It was a human head and upper chest, stubs of arms—everything else was gone. The head was wearing an ANBU mask.

_Beater! No! God, no!_

"They… they just blew up the rest of him…"

The Captain didn't speak. He went over to Rhino and he took what remained of Beater from the ninja. He removed the ANBU mask. Beater's eyes were still open, bright robin blue, frozen. The Captain reached out with a gloved hand and closed Beater's eyes. Then he put the mask back on. For a long moment he stood this way.

"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered.

The ANBU all stared at her. Chouji look away. None of them said anything.

Around them the forests burned still. Orange flames slithered up ravaged trees, consuming everything in their wake. Chips of bark curled up and fell in blackened flakes to the ground. The leaves hissed and roasted and the sky was filled with their smoldering dust. The fire would go on for days.

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Next: **CHAPTER TWO:** **"In the Looking Glass"**


	2. In the Looking Glass

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO nor the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWO: "In the Looking Glass"**

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They rushed the stretcher through swinging double-doors into the hospital emergency ward. A sudden flash of fluorescent light blazed in Sakura's face, and she held up her hand against it. There was an immense confusion of sound—doctors shouting, whirling machinery, footsteps running on the tile floor. For some reason Sakura looked back. The masked ANBU stood out there, in the dark cobblestone streets outside the hospital, left behind. Then the doors swung shut and they were gone.

Sakura ran with the stretcher down the long hallways.

"What happened?" the lead doctor asked her. The Konoha chief of surgery, Micho. His graying hair stuck up from his head in tufts, like it had been rubbed over with a charged comb, and his glasses gleamed white in the light.

"He was hit in the chest by some kind of jutsu. Bakudan."

"Bakudan!" another of the doctors said. "That explains all the cell ruptures I'm seeing. Critical damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs… the brain. The damage is everywhere."

"I… I think the attack superheated the blood in his heart. When it was pumped into his circulatory system… I tried to heal it."

"Yes," said Micho. "If it weren't for you, Sarutobi would already be dead."

They wheeled Asuma into the operating room. Gleaming steel walls swallowed them on all sides, reflecting their movements as in a looking glass. Lines of glowing scrollwork covered the walls, charging them with electric energy. They quickly striped Asuma's body and placed it in a depressed well in the middle of the room. The doctors placed seals on the body, complicated, entangled layers of enzyme catalysts and ATP imitators and anti-infection wards that Sakura could barely follow. Medic-nins in the corners of the room burned their chakra, funneling electric power to the central well through the scrollwork.

Micho was going to attempt the Souzou procedure. Regeneration of Asuma's entire cellular structure from a cryogenic state. It had the best chance of saving him. But it would take time.

"Sarutobi's vitals are failing!" one of the doctors said.

Micho was yelling at the attending nurses. "What are you useless boobs doing? Where's my blood transfusion? And my shot of suprax? And the dry ice?"

"We have to operate now," a doctor said.

A chakra scalpel already glittered in Micho's hand. "Ice him," Micho said.

The medic-nins shoveled dry ice into tranches against the well. Cold fumes flowed out, blanketed Asuma's body and froze it. Electric energy pulsed, throbbed until the well glowed blue-hot with its charge. Micho sliced into Asuma's chest with his chakra scalpel.

"Let me help," Sakura said.

Micho didn't look up. "You're in traumatic shock," he said. "You need medical attention."

"I can help."

"Sakura, shock is extremely—"

"I know. I can help. You need it for Souzou."

The old doctor sighed. "Fine. Maintain the infection seals."

Sakura kneeled by the well. She pressed her hands against Asuma's torso. Suddenly she noticed that her hands were covered with blood.

"Souzou… 3…2…1…now!"

Enormous waves of electric chakra ran through Asuma's body, held in by the seals, crackling like lightning. The dry ice melted, evaporated into steam.

The steam almost seemed the color of gold. No, that was before. Before? She stared at her hands. Now she remembered. She had thrust them right into Asuma's chest, tried to save him. His chest had been warm, and the blood had poured over her hands like a hot bath. Now it was dry, cold. The congealed blood clung to her like a second skin. It covered her. What a pity it would be to clean it off.

Her hands shook.

"Sakura!" Micho yelled.

_Fuck! _Somehow Sakura willed herself back to reality. The Souzou procedure. Her hands. No. _Focus._ She began to unravel the seals on Asuma's body. Micho and the doctors performed the main operation, but she helped to maintain the infection seals, filled in the gaps between their seal releases. _Focus_… focus… one step at a time… At last the procedure was finished. Souzou had successfully catalyzed extremely fast and universal regeneration in Asuma's cells, enough to heal almost any kind of wound. Almost.

"Suprax! I need more suprax!" Micho shouted.

"It didn't work!" one of the doctors said. "The damage is too much."

"Vital signs failing," another said.

"Sarutobi's frontal lobe is inactive. He's going to turn into a vegetable—"

"Son of a bitch!" Micho said. Suddenly the old man turned to Sakura and grabbed her by the shoulders. She was looking at her hands.

Micho shook the girl until she looked at him.

"I'm experiencing an acute stress reaction," Sakura said numbly. "Performance compromised. Permission to rest."

"Granted." Micho's face was soft. "Sakura, thank you."

Sakura stood up. She walked out through the doors of the operating room into the waiting room.

As she left she heard Micho call out behind her, "Get the Hokage!"

She sat down on a bench in the waiting room. In some corner of her mind she understood what was happening to her right now. An acute stress reaction in response to a traumatic event. Symptoms included numbing, detachment, depersonalization, and continued re-experiencing of the event by way of thoughts, dreams, and flashbacks. A perfectly natural response. She looked at her blood-covered hands.

In them she saw a burning forest. She saw Beater's head and upper chest, the blank eyes open, the rest of the body gone. "They… they just blew up the rest of him," said the ANBU. Asuma, on the ground, a hole in his chest, blood pouring out of him. "Sakura!" he shouted in her ear. "You're the only one with enough chakra!" Ino unconscious, covered with burns. "So you're the one… I _smelled_…"a grotesque plant-thing hissed. A man's eyes were gold flames, and he whispered a word.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I fucked up. My chakra… I forgot…"

Suddenly she wondered what the ANBU were doing. They must have given their report by now. She imagined them kneeling before the Hokage. With one hand the Captain presented her with the half-blown up briefcase filled with nothing. With the other he pulled out the detached head of Beater. "It was Haruno Sakura, sir," the Captain said. "It was all her fault. She killed him."

_I killed him. _

She didn't know long she waited there. It must have hours. Confused, exhausted, half-insane thoughts overflowed her mind.

At last Micho walked through the doors of the operating room, followed by a gaggle of doctors and medic-nin. Sakura stood up, stared at him. Micho smiled. "Sarutobi will live. The Fifth saved him. A miracle! It was the most incredible thing I ever saw."

_Asuma. _Sakura closed her eyes. The Hokage had saved him.

"She wants to see you," Micho said. He pointed to the operating room.

Sakura stared. Then she walked through the doors.

The medical staff had all left the operating room. The room was silent. Gray scrollwork peeled off the walls like faded paint, exhausted and useless. Asuma was sleeping on a stretcher in the middle of the room, his body covered by a white sheet.

A woman had her hand on Asuma's chest.

She wore a green kimono, hastily thrown on. Her hair was the color of the sun, and her skin was pale like ice. She was beautiful, aristocratic, but more than that. She was unapproachable. You could not look away. There was an extraordinary charisma about her, mesmerizing, magnetic. You could feel it in your bones, in your hidden thoughts. And in those haunting dark eyes above all. Like a god they ran in fear who saw her, if they were enemies, worshiped her in awe, if they were her friends. They whispered her name, the epithets they had given her, and the words were incantations. Senju Tsunade. The Princess. The Legendary Sannin. The Scarred Beauty. The Queen of Torment.

When she spoke her voice was a reed in the frozen snow.

"What have you done, girl?" the Hokage asked.

"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered, head held low. "Tsunade-sensei…I failed you. It was all my fault. Asuma… Beater… I didn't control my chakra—"

"Give it to me," the Hokage said.

Sakura didn't understand.

"Your forehead protector. Give it to me."

"What?"

"From this moment, you are terminated. You are no longer a ninja."

Sakura was dazed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What—"

The Hokage held out the palm of her hand.

No. This couldn't be happening. Not be a ninja? Everything she had worked for her… her whole life. She couldn't—not like this—

"Tsunade-sensei…why…?"

The Hokage's eyes were as blank as those of a dead man. "Because, girl, _it should have been you_."

For a very long moment Sakura did not move. Then she slowly untied her forehead protector and handed it to her sensei. The metal protector plate was cold in her hands. Her hands shook.

The Hokage took the forehead protector from her and walked away.

Sakura watched her leave. Suddenly Sakura noticed that she was crying. Tears flowed down her cheeks and her whole body shook with wracking sobs. She sunk to the ground, wrapped her arms around her knees and cried. Hysterical reaction to a traumatic event. A perfectly natural response.

_It should have been me. _

Once she looked up, into the polished metal ceiling of the operating room, like a looking glass. In the looking glass she saw her reflection. She stared at it. She saw a girl who was covered head to toe in dried red blood, expect that there was a white band of clean skin across the girl's forehead. The girl brought a hand up to touch the band and she wondered why it was clean.

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Next: **CHAPTER THREE: "The Village Hidden in the Leaves"**

**Author's Note:** I added a few reviews along with my responses. Hopefully this will be helpful to new readers:

_**1. Satori **over at Viridian Forums: "Read a little. It's very jarring. Why is Sakura, a genin, being sent out on such a dangerous mission, alongside ANBU. And why is Tsunade so pissed with her? She screwed up, sure, but that happens in warfare. It feels like a lot isn't being explained, just thrown out there as the fic hurries along. Your writing is excellent on all technical points, but i'm having a hard time figuring out WTF is going on."_

Thanks for the review and constructive criticism. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, the opening is kind of confusing. But I'm not sure how to make it clearer without messing up the pace or putting in a lot of heavy-handed exposition. I like that the first chapter throws you directly into the action, without explaining exactly what the mission is. The details of the mission aren't really important (until later). The point is just that Sakura screws up and gets her comrade killed, and then gets discharged from the military by Tsunade in punishment.

It's definitely unusual for a team of genin to go on a B-rank mission, but it's not the first time. According to the Databook, Sasuke, as a Konoha genin, completed 2 B-rank and 6 A-rank missions. Now you might say, hold on, you can't compare Sakura to Sasuke! But that's exactly what the Hokage is doing. Sakura hadn't been on a "serious" mission in months and Tsunade wanted to "test" her apprentice's strength. In that sense the potential danger of the mission was a plus factor. There are also some more subtle reasons behind Tsunade's decision which will be explained later on.

I guess the story demands a more careful reading than most fanfics. If you're willing to give it another try, I really think it will be worth it, with a very rewarding payoff. The story does move fast and I layered a lot of backstory and foreshadowing into it, so maybe at the start it's challenging to understand everything that is going on. I was really tying to keep the explicit exposition to a minimum. I dunno, maybe that was a bad choice. I'm also limited by my choice to tell the story from a Sakura-only POV. If I could write a Tsunade POV or Kakashi POV, that would make the overarching plot MUCH clearer. But I want to keep the focus on Sakura. And Sakura just isn't going to be thinking about things like internal political debates on the Konoha High Council, Akatsuki intelligence reports, the United Countries Embassy, etc. The plot will become much clearer after a few chapters.

_**2. Ichi-Stars**__: "Your story is quite, interesting. It's like a different spin off of the manga. I particularly like how everyone seems to underestimate Sakura, including the Hokage. Truthfully, I wasn't happy with her attitude towards Sakura. What was she to expect sending a genin to a Anbu-class mission? [...] I feel that Tsunade is doing this on purpose so that Sakura will grow and won't submit to the same mistake as she herself fell in. There has to be some motive for being a total bitch to her student. Yes she is a leader and so she must be stern but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I really want to know what you are going to do with Tsunade and her relationship with Sakura. I have so many theories running through my head about the discharge. I mean, there clearly has to be something more to it. I can't accept that Sakura was simply discharged because she got someone killed (I hope it's not). I'm looking forward to future chapters and where you take this story."_

Thanks for the detailed review! The point of the story is basically to take the NARUTO world in a different direction than the one that Kishimoto ultimately chose to take it. I mean, if you're reading the manga now you'll know that in all 300 chapters of Part 2 only _two _good guys have died. This is in the midst of a world war. Look, the author has a right to tell Part 2 whatever way he wants… and we cynical fans have a right to pretend it never happened. That's the reason my story is set during the timeskip. It sort of gives me a chance to say, "What if NARUTO was actually done the way (I think) it should have been done, before this guy Kishimoto ran it off the rails?" =D

A lot of people are hating on Tsunade because of what she does in the first couple chapters. I realize it looks bad for Tsunade to strip Sakura of her ninja rank at the worst possible moment... then to tell Sakura that she should have died instead of Beater... possibly causing long-term mental damage for the rest of her life. I mean, not only is Tsunade a "total bitch," it's almost like she's some sort of evil sadist who hates Sakura!

Let me say, for the record, that there is something much deeper going on in this chapter. Tsunade's real motives for discharging Sakura have not been revealed yet. You just need to trust me on this. Tsunade is not evil. She does not hate Sakura. She does not think it should have been Sakura who was killed. In fact, _Tsunade loves Sakura very much and would do anything to protect her. _

(Please see the Author's Note to Chapter 6 for a more detailed response to some negative reviews about Tsunade's characterization).

So what's Tsunade doing? If Tsunade loves Sakura, why does she act like she hates her? Well, the answer to that question is basically what a lot of WILL OF STONE is about. The relationship between Tsunade and Sakura is one of the major themes of this story. So if you want to know what's really going on here you're just going to have to keep on reading. Everything will be revealed.


	3. The Village Hidden in the Leaves

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER THREE: "The Village Hidden in the Leaves"**

* * *

The dream always ended the same, but each time she never remembered. The sickle moon hangs high in the sky, pale as white porcelain. Snow carpets the forest in heaps and drifts, and the trees are a skeletal tangle of naked lungs, their mouths thrust under the snow, holding their breath so as not to wake the sleeping earth too soon. Everything is so still and silent. Even the little bubbling brook is frozen, and the wooden bridge over it deserted, except for her and him.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she says. "I never noticed before."

"No. You're a spring girl," he says.

She laughs. "And what season are you, Uchiha Sasuke?"

He doesn't say anything, but draws her close. His breath is hot on her face and his tongue tastes like fire. But the kiss ends. Then he is once more distant, cold as he has been this whole night. In her arms he seems to tremble and shake. He looks past her, staring at something she cannot see.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

He pauses. "You can't come with me," he says.

"Come where?"

Suddenly he pulls away, turns his back to her. Only then does she notice the knapsack strapped there. His voice is hard. "Don't you get it? I'm different from you. There's something… something I have to do…"

Finally she understands. How stupid she is, that it takes her this long. "The White Snake… you can't. That's treason!"

"Good," he says.

"And me? Us? You damn liar! You said—"

He turns. His eyes are as dark as the night woods. "I didn't lie."

"Don't leave," she says, desperate, pleading. "I won't let you!"

She rushes at him with balled fists. But he catches her up easily. She's so weak and helpless. All she can do is cry. Through a haze of blurry tears she sees him smile softly one last time. Then something hard strikes the back of her neck.

"Forget me, Sakura," he whispers—

"No!" the girl screamed, bolting up in her bed. For a moment she could not figure out where she was. Then she remembered. Groaning, she wiped the sweat off her face with a bed sheet and tried to calm herself. Sasuke had been gone for four months. Four months of this nightmare.

"Saaakuraaa," a little voice moaned from the other side of the room. "You woke me up! _Again_." A small ball of hot pink hair and skinny limbs surfaced from beneath dolphin-print bed covers, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Kyoki.

"It's time for you to get up, anyway," Sakura said.

"No, it's _Saturday_," Kyoki said, impossibly indignant, brows furrowed with all the might she could muster.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, I'm sorry." This apology obtained, the little pouter immediately dove back under the covers. Only a tuft of pink hair could still be seen poking out from under them.

Sakura hadn't gone to sleep until very late last night, but somehow she didn't feel tired now. She got dressed quickly, taking care not to disturb her sister. Nothing special, just jeans and a top. Sunlight shone through the curtains draped across the window. She could faintly hear the blacksmith across the street banging on his anvils, the bustle of people in and out along the dirt and cobblestone paths. Then she went to the bathroom sink to wash her face.

After washing the girl went out of the bathroom into the room that doubled as the kitchen and living room of their three-room apartment. The white paint was peeling on the walls and the smell of mold was everywhere, but for the most part they kept it as clean as they could.

Her mother was already up, sitting at the kitchen table, working through receipts and expense bills. Her brow was creased beneath thick eyeglasses, her black hair prematurely streaked gray, looking like just what she was: an exhausted, overworked librarian. When she saw her, Haruno Umeka smiled wanly. "Good morning, Sakura."

"Hey, mom." She sat down at the small table and began stuffing down a breakfast bun.

Her mother hesitated, then ventured, "How are you?"

"Fine."

"Good, that's good." She paused for a while. Then she said, "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Sakura looked up. Her mother looked very bad, even worse than usual. Pale and thin, like porcelain. For a moment she was sorry for her. "No," she said.

"I mean… you've been hanging around here at home so much, ever since you came back from that mission—"

"I'm fine," she said.

"Well… I'm always here if you need me."

Without answering Sakura turned back to her breakfast. She hadn't told her mother anything. It would all come out eventually, she knew, sooner rather than later. It was stupid, the silence. She just wanted to… put it off…

Kyoki came scampering into the kitchen, a jumping, spunky little girl of eight, strands of long pink hair flying everywhere, large forest green eyes wide with life. "Sakura woke me up again!" she announced, almost gleefully. "Now I can't sleep!"

Sakura picked her up. Kyoki squealed, laughing, resisting her, but soon she had the little creature nestled tight in her arms. "Kyoki, you big fat munchkin. What are you gonna do, sleep till sunset? Come on, let your big sis take you for a walk, okay?"

"Okay!" Kyoki cheered. "I wanna go to the Steam Gardens!"

"Only if you be good."

Kyoki frowned at this, brows furrowing with suspicion. Cautiously she asked, "What's being good?"

"Drinking your milk."

"Aww! No way!" The little girl pouted, but Sakura stood her ground. That was the key with Kyoki. You had to make sure not to indulge her or she would run right over you. Their mother got up and poured a glass for her, watching on silently. After some loud protest Kyoki ended up downing the whole glass of milk in one gulp. She stuck her tongue out in disgust but recovered quickly. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said, very seriously, "Okay! Let's go!"

"Okay," Sakura laughed.

"Don't come back too late," their mother said. "Tomorrow, you know… your father…"

"I know," Sakura said.

They unlocked on the bolts on the steel front door and ventured out into the streets of Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Her family's apartment was toward the back of a side street, facing a blacksmith's shop. The blacksmith clanged away into the night, which was annoying, but the rent was cheap, and during the winter they could borrow unused coal from the blacksmith to heat their home for free.

Sakura and Kyoki walked hand in hand, Kyoki happily swinging her limbs this way and that. Here, on the outskirts, away from the administrative districts and the main thoroughfares, the village was more haphazard, run-down and even soiled. They walked down winding dirt streets crowded with peddlers, boys ringing bells selling newspapers, big-boned women calling out prices for their buns and noodles from streetside stands, old shaman who claimed to read your life's story in your palm. The morning was an immense noise and tumult, a sea of people on foot and bicycles and rickshaws and the occasional horse-drawn carriage.

Once Sakura looked up and saw a ninja crouched on a rooftop. Usually sentries weren't placed so far out from the central districts, but now they were everywhere. The increased patrols were part of the precautionary measures the High Council had put in place in the aftermath of the recent terrorist invasion by Orochimaru and Akatsuki during the chuunin exam. The December 7th attack, it was called now. The signs of the attack were still visible everywhere. Exploded streets, knocked-in houses, uprooted trees that littered the side of the road. And the more subtle signs, too, the way people walked more cautiously, the way their eyes moved and the way they clutched their children closer. Konoha was their home, and Akatsuki had violated it. They had survived, most of them, anyway, but they hadn't forgotten.

They grieved instead. And in their grief, their anger, the people of Konoha had resolved to make their home safe once again. The symbol of their resolution was everywhere, drawn on the advertisements, the posters plastered on every building and street corner. The symbol was a five-pointed white star within a blue pentagon. Each point of the star represented one of the five major countries of the world: Fire, Water, Lightning, Earth, and Wind, and the center of the star represented the collective humanity which joined them to each other. Above the symbol there were only five words:

THE UNITED COUNTRIES. NEVER AGAIN.

The United Countries. The first international political organization, dedicated to the aim of maintaining world peace and facilitating understanding between different peoples. Its establishment was the signature policy initiative of the Fifth Hokage. The Hokage had promised that the United Countries would be a vehicle to unite the power of the world against Akatsuki and other transnational threats. She had promised that it was the only way to truly ensure the security of Konoha in an increasing interconnected and interdependent world. The people of the village believed her.

But others did not. The other countries, the other ninja villages. They were suspicious of Konoha's intentions, they were greedy to take advantage in the wake of Konoha's catastrophic decline in strength. No country except the Fire Country supported the Hokage's project. So there would be an Embassy—the United Countries Embassy. A diplomatic mission from Konoha to the other ninja villages, including Suna and Iwa, where the next chuunin exam would be held, to try to convince them to join the United Countries. The Fifth would lead the Embassy personally. If all went as hoped, at least three of the five major countries would sign the United Countries charter at the conclusion of the Iwa chuunin exam in the Earth Country.

_Never again. _

Sakura had believed in her teacher's vision of world peace. She had dreamed of going on the United Countries Embassy, dreamed of going to Iwa and being there as the system of the world was reshaped. She had dreamed of fighting in the chuunin exam. A chuunin. She had thought she was going to become a chuunin in Iwa. Now…

"Saaakuraaa," Kyoki whined, tugging at Sakura's hand. "What's wrong with you? You're staring into space again. Hellooo? I'm over here. I wanna go to the Steam Gardens."

"I know that, you munchkin." Sakura tousled Kyoki's hair playfully. "Come on. Let's go visit someone first."

Sakura and Kyoki entered one of the main thoroughfares, a broad brick avenue bustling with well-dressed people and lined with modern shops. Here the road led directly to Hashirama Square, with the backdrop of Hokage Mountain behind it. The huge stone-carved faces of the Hokages on the mountain loomed out over the village. Sakura stared at them. There were four men, the previous four Hokages. The fifth face, half-complete and still cased by construction scaffolding, was of Senju Tsunade. They had finished her lower face, including a chin and lips and half a nose, but the upper face was still a mass of undefined rock. The sculptors would do the eyes last.

On the street, they stopped beneath a flower shop with the name "BLOSSOMS." Sakura hesitated for an instant, unsure whether to go in. But Kyoki ran in before she could stop her.

In the shop a girl dressed in an apron emblazoned with the store logo was manning the counter. When she saw Sakura she gave a little yelp. "Where have you _been_?" she cried. Then she bounded behind from the desk to give Sakura a big, tight hug.

"Hey, Ino," Sakura managed as they hugged.

Leaving Kyoki to play around with the flowers bouquets, the two girls started talking. "I'm sorry about the mission," Sakura said. "It was my fault."

Ino tossed her head like it was her habit to do, the long ponytail swishing. "Don't worry about it. They say Asuma-sensei is going to get out of the hospital any day now, good as new. Uh, you know, stuff happens…" She didn't seem to want to pursue that line of thought further, so then she just said, smiling cheerfully, "We're still best friends forever."

"Thanks."

"So where've you _been_? I must have left you, like, twenty messages. I was just going to go find you…"

"Sorry. I just had to—think things over for a while. There's something I need to tell you."

Ino put her hand on her hips. "Well? Spill it, girl."

"I—"

Just then a gaggle of middle aged women walked through the front door, making their way straight for the desk. They looked angry and said something about missing deliveries and refunds.

"Hello? Can't you see I'm having a _conversation_ here?" Ino said. "Wait your turn."

"What kind of dreadful shop girl are you—" one of the women started.

"I'm a ninja!" Ino cried, pulling out her forehead protector from under the counter. "How dare you talk to me like that! I risk my life to protect people like you every day! Don't you remember December 7th? God!"

The women backed down, scurrying out of the shop.

Ino swished her ponytail. "Sorry, Sakura. What were you saying?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, as if there was something holding her tongue. _Why can't I tell her?_

"Nothing," she said. "It doesn't matter." Sakura turned to leave.

"What? Girl, you're not going anywhere without me!" Ino squeezed her hand. "I can't _stand_ this place, anyway. You're just the excuse I need to take the day off." She giggled.

Ino immediately closed the shop and joined her and Kyoki. They walked down the avenue through Hashirama Square. The Square was still half-destroyed, littered with the scars of the battle that had raged between Konoha ninja and the Akatsuki terrorists and their sand-nin dupes. Huge chunks of it were still roped off for repair work. But behind the Square they could see the canopies of a large forest park, set against Hokage Mountain, untouched by the Akatsuki attack.

Entering the park was like passing from one world to the next. There was a sudden quiet, a stillness incomprehensible by the noise and bustle in the Square. For this was the spot around which the Founders had built up all of Konoha: the site of a large hydrothermal vent, bubbling up into a chain of boiling hot springs. The Founders had tapped the vent, piping the steam to power turbines that were the primary energy source of the village. But they kept much of the hot springs, designed it into a park, a place where the villagers could go to escape the violence outside, where they would feel safe.

The Steam Gardens. The beating heart of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The three of them spent all day wandering through the Steam Gardens. They clambered up the roots of massive, twenty-story tall trees that grew out of the billowing, steaming hot springs itself. They slid down mossy, knotted walkways that hung suspended from trunk hollows lined with bursting flowers. They splashed through pools of condensed steam that dripped down from nests of dark leaves like rain. It was the longest time any of them had spent together for months, since before the Konoha chuunin exam. Kyoki ran this way and that, yelling, panting, flushing, out of breath. Ino clung to Sakura's arm and babbled pleasantly about nothing, boys, flowers, customers, parents, shopping.

"Sakura!" Kyoki said. "I wanna go to the Firefly Nest!"

"Okay," Sakura said.

The Firefly Nest was Kyoki's favorite place in the Steam Gardens. It was over a twisting wood platform that grew out between a ring of massive trees about three stories in the air. The trees formed a dense weave of tangled branches overhead, so thick no sunlight could get through. But there was still light. This was because around the platform swarmed an incalculably enormous number of fireflies. The fireflies glowed like a hundred thousand little yellow-red lanterns, or stars, or constellations, winking in and out, circling the dark sky. Kyoki laughed and shrieked, running through the firefly swarms, chasing them with grasping fingers. Sakura sat on a stone bench and watched her sister.

Suddenly there was a very loud shout above them. Sakura looked up. A boy jumped from the tree canopy into the cloud of fireflies. With his hands he plucked fireflies from the air at incredible speeds and stuffed them into a large glass jar he was carrying. He landed on a branch and leaped up again, zigzagging between the trees. He was a blur of movement, extremely fast, and Sakura could barely follow him. She managed to make out that he was wearing a green jumpsuit.

At last the boy did a quadruple backflip and landed on the wood platform in front of Sakura. He bowed and then struck a pose. "Sakura-chan, your beauty is astounding! Rock Lee, the Green Flash of Konoha, will protect you with his life!"

"Wow, Lee, you're so cool!" Kyoki cried. Lee gave her a thumbs up.

"Kill me now," Ino said.

Lee handed Sakura a jar crammed with captured fireflies. "Please allow me to present you this gift. A humble token of my love."

"Uh, thanks," Sakura said. She couldn't help but laugh at the bizarre gift. Just then Kyoki ran up to Sakura and took the jar from her big sister. The little girl opened up the jar. Thousands of fireflies streamed out. They swarmed around Kyoki and landed on her. She squealed in delight. When she moved the fireflies scattered everywhere.

"Sorry, Sakura," someone said behind them. "Lee thinks you're still seven years old."

"Shut up, Neji!" Lee shouted. "Everybody likes fireflies."

Neji leaned against a tree, arms folded. His huge white pupils stared at them, unreadable, disturbingly blank. Sakura felt a sudden urge to look away. "Sakura," he said. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Of course she's fine!" Ino said. "Well, if there weren't a stalker following her around everywhere."

"I'm not a stalker! I'm training!" Lee said. "I come to the Steam Gardens every day to train my taijutsu reflexes. You just happened to show up. It's a coincidence!"

"Oh, right," Ino said. She swished her ponytail. "Training. Your way of the ninja. How could I forget."

Lee was oblivious. "I'm so excited! The Iwa chuunin exam's starting in little over a month. Gai-sensei says that we're going with the UC Embassy to Iwa! The UC Embassy! I won't let Gai-sensei down this time. I'm going to train constantly. I'm going to work harder than I ever worked before. And I will become a chuunin! That is my ninja way!" The words came out in a torrent of enthusiasm, and he pumped his fist.

Just then an idea occurred to Lee. He looked at Sakura happily. "Hey, Sakura-chan. Since we're both going on the Embassy, maybe we can train together!"

"No, you leave her alone," Ino said. "You're creepy, do you know that? Here's some advice. Next time you think of a gift? Give a girl something that's not _totally disgusting_!"

"I—what—" Lee sputtered.

Suddenly Sakura stood up. "Ino, can you do me a favor? Bring Kyoki home."

"What? Where are you going?" Ino asked.

"I have to do something." Sakura left quickly.

"Bye-bye, Saakuraaa!" her little sister called after her.

Outside the Steam Gardens it was already getting dark. She ran hard toward the forests outside Konoha. She had to get away. Seeing them like that… seeing Lee…

_God, Sakura, look at him. His__ bones had been crushed in the last exa__m. Crushed. Look at him now…_ Lee would have to give up being a ninja, they told him. The Fifth had healed him, but he was on crutches for a long time afterward. Somehow he had recovered. Somehow he had became faster and more powerful than he before. He was… strong. A strong ninja. Everything she was not.

For a brief instant, instantly regretted, Sakura wished that Rock Lee was still a cripple.

By the time she reached the training grounds it was night, and a sliver-moon rose in the cloudless sky.

The clearing was almost exactly the same as she remembered. The thick wooden posts, sticking out of the grass, the lone old oak tree behind the posts. Sakura reached out her hand to brush the central wooden post, felt the familiar wood grain under her fingertips. If she looked closely she could almost see the ropes around the central post again, and Naruto tied to them, kicking his legs helplessly and moaning that he was so hungry, he forgot to eat breakfast, and please, wouldn't they give him some food. How she had laughed. But they fed him anyway, her and Sasuke.

That was the beginning of Team 7.

When was that? A lifetime away, it seemed. But barely more than a year ago. It was all gone now, nothing but memories and leftover souvenirs, wooden posts and framed photographs. Where were they, what were they doing now? Kakashi-sensei—mysterious, enigmatic Kakashi—away constantly on top-secret missions. Naruto, off somewhere with Jiraiya, wandering the world, getting themselves into lots of trouble, no doubt. And Sasuke…

Suddenly an anger swelled up in her, a rage, a blinding fury that she had never felt before. Hadn't she promised, hadn't she made a vow to herself? She had been useless, worthless, for so long. Naruto and Sasuke were the heroes. Against Zabuza, Aoi, during the chuunin exam. She tried to protect them, but she was the one being protected. Being saved. And then, finally, when Sasuke ran away… _"Please bring him back_," she had begged Naruto. "_I couldn't do it! I couldn't stop him… please…_

How hard those words had been, every word, every syllable forced out of her with the lash of a whip. How the shame had burned her. She had promised herself that she would never beg again. Never rely on other people's strength, their charity, their condescension. She had promised. That she would get strong, and bring back him back herself—

She screamed and punched the pillar in front of her, feeling the bare skin of her knuckles strike against the rough wood, the sharp lash of pain, the joy of the pain. Unthinking, out of control, she screamed and punched again. Again. The post cracked, splintered, and then burst apart, shattering into a dozen pieces. The girl fell to her knees on top of the remains of the pillar, her bruised hands covered with blood, breathing hard.

"Why?" Sakura whispered to the splinters of the wood post. "Why? Why me?" Why was she such a failure? _Why am I so weak? _The injustice of it all, the unfairness… but maybe that was just how it was. She was weak. It was just fate.

Then what was she doing trying to be a ninja? What had she, Haruno Sakura, ever done as a ninja, except fuck things up? Fuck up everything. Tsunade-sensei was right. She wasn't supposed to do this. She could do something else, couldn't she? She could be a… a doctor, maybe…

"_Forget me_, _Sakura_," a voice whispered.

Sakura spun wildly, spinning around to see who had said it. No one. The wind. Her imagination. No, there was a sound. Faint, but from somewhere close.

It was the sound of laughter.

Sakura looked up. In the tree behind the wooden posts, sitting high up in the branches, there was a man. The man was reading a book.

"Yo," said Hatake Kakashi.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER FOUR: "The First Lesson"**


	4. The First Lesson

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER FOUR: "The First Lesson"**

* * *

Hatake Kakashi jumped down from the tree into the clearing. He rubbed the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I was reading the new Icha Icha book—there was a very funny scene. I'm afraid I may have laughed out loud."

"You…you were there the whole time?"

Kakashi glanced at the remnants of the wood post Sakura had punched into pieces. "I, ah, didn't wish to disturb you."

Sakura's mouth hung open. "You… you had no right. You had no right to be here… you can't—do you get some sort of sick pleasure from spying on other people? You… you pervert!"

"Your words are unkind. That's not like you, Sakura."

"What do you know what I'm like?" Sakura asked angrily. "You never—…" She trailed off.

"I see," Kakashi said. "Do you blame me, then?"

She stared at him.

"I know about what happened on the mission," Kakashi said. "You made a mistake and the Hokage took away your forehead protector. You blame me. I was a bad teacher. I neglected you. I should have trained you instead of Sasuke and Naruto."

Sakura looked away. She saw her blood-covered hands. Her own blood, this time. "No. It wasn't your fault. Kakashi-sensei."

Hatake Kakashi suddenly bowed to her. "Sakura… I take responsibility. If I ever did anything that was unfair to you, anything that was hurtful… I am very sorry. Please accept my apology."

Sakura's anger melted away. It gave way to grief, regret. All of a sudden she felt very tired. Kakashi-sensei had apologized to her. How much she had wanted to hear those words before. But what good was it now? It was useless, worthless.

It was too late.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," she managed to get out. She turned to leave.

"Don't run," said her former teacher.

Sakura turned her head back. The man stood alone under the tree, his hands thrust in his pockets. His shock of hair gleamed silver in the moonlight. His forehead protector sagged over his left eye and a black mask covered his face. She had seen him like that a thousand times before. So calm, so sure of himself, as if he was not even a real person. A machine. The Perfect Ninja, they called him. But for an incomprehensible moment Sakura seemed to see something else.

Something not so different from herself.

Kakashi smiled, pained and sad. "Don't run away," he said. "Not you too."

_Not you too_. "Is that what I am to you, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. Her voice was bitter again. "Just because Sasuke and Naruto are gone? That's it, isn't it? I'm all that you have left. All that's left of your precious Team 7."

"It's true that Team 7 was very precious to me. What made it precious were the three children that I had the great privilege of calling my students. All of them were different, and each of them was fundamental to the team. Sasuke was the mind. Naruto was the fire. And you, Sakura. You were the heart."

Sakura looked at her hands again. _Please bring Sasuke back_, she begged Naruto. _I couldn't do it! I couldn't stop him… please…_

"The heart? So what?" she said bitterly. "So… what is that good for…"

"The heart is the strength," Kakashi said. "The strength of the team."

"No," she said.

"Yes."

"No. Why are you saying this to me?" Sakura was shouting now. "Don't you get it? I'm not a ninja anymore! It's too late. _Too late_."

Hatake Kakashi smiled. "You can still be a ninja," he said.

The girl stared at him. "How?"

"The Hokage temporarily stripped your rank, nothing more. She can restore it at her choosing. I'll get you an audience with the Hokage. Ask her to let you go on the United Countries Embassy to Iwa. Konoha is already stretched past the breaking point between the December 7th attack and all the resources being diverted to the Embassy. We badly need more personnel. She can't refuse you. You can still be a ninja."

_I can still be a ninja. _

"I know you made a mistake," Kakashi continued. "That mistake will be with you for the rest of your life. As it is with mine. As it with the life of every ninja in this village. You are not the first. If the Founders had given up every time they made a mistake Konoha would not even exist. Sakura… if you run away now, Konoha will lose a great ninja. You have that potential within you. That is the reason the Hokage chose you as her apprentice."

_I can still be a ninja. _Yes, Sakura wanted to say. Yes, that's everything I worked for my whole life. Everything.

But she couldn't.

"I'm not the Hokage's apprentice," Sakura said. "The Hokage hates me. She told me… she told me it should have been me. I should have died instead of Beater."

Kakashi's eyes widened.

"Was she wrong?" Sakura whispered.

The man was silent for a long moment. Finally he spoke. "The Fifth is a great woman. Like a light she returned to our village at our darkest hour and saved us. It is her vision for a world without war which sustains us now in a time of terrible violence. But what she said to you was a lie. Sakura, please listen to me. This way… the way of the shinobi… it is not for everyone. I knew so many… so many otherwise brave men and women who could not walk it. They were weak."

Kakashi looked at her. "But you. You are strong. You always have been, Sakura."

"No," she said. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I'm not."

The girl turned away from him. Her mind swirled with confused, half-formed thoughts. Then she was running out of the clearing, back toward the village. For a brief moment she thought about going home. Her mother had warned her about not coming back too late. She could change clothes, clean the blood off her hands and bandage the wounds. But there was something she had to do first. Something she had tosee...

Under the oak tree, by the wooden posts in the clearing where Team 7 had first begun, Hatake Kakashi watched her go. The Perfect Ninja stood alone.

Sakura didn't look back.

From the training grounds she ran hard for Madara military cemetery.

Madara military cemetery had originally been built on the outskirts of the village. But Konoha had grown, and the village had swallowed up the cemetery, surrounded it on all sides by buildings and traffic. And the cemetery itself had grown, too. The original planners had not known there would be so many dead. It was a vast expanse, walled in by rows of trees and vine-tangled walls, and lined with rows of white marble headstones. Here were buried all those who had died in the line of battle, along with their families. Many of they were new—the dead from the recent Akatsuki invasion, the December 7th attack.

One was the newest of all.

Sakura found the gravestone without much difficulty. There had been a big funeral, days before, and the dirt was still fresh. The Hokage herself had given the eulogy. Sakura had not gone. A few words were carved into the white stone. They read:

Here lies  
Beloved son, brother, soldier  
SARUTOBI SAISEN  
A.N.B.U. Lieutenant  
June 4th, 506 – May 4th, 526

He had been 19. Already an ANBU ninja, already part of the elite team led by the First ANBU Captain. Unheard of at that age. Sakura could only see his blown-apart body, bright blue eyes that stared out blankly of a face that seemed as young as her own.

Saisen. So that was his name. A member of the Sarutobi Clan.

_It should have been you_, a voice whispered inside her.

But it wasn't. It never could be.

Suddenly Sakura remembered a set of different words, a different time. The memory asserted itself powerfully. Snow still covered the village, sparkling sharply in the morning light, packed down deep in the ground. That day she walked up the steps of the mountain to the Office of the Hokage. For hours she waited before she was shown into a room. Behind a desk the Fifth Hokage reclined in her armchair in a green kimono, her hands laced together before her.

"Please!" Sakura said forcefully, with all the confidence she could muster. "Make me your apprentice!"

"And why, girl, would I do something like that?"

It all burst out of her in a torrent of desperate words. "Because… because I can't stand being like this anymore! Relying other people's strength. Begging for it. I can't… I can't even protect the people I love. Train me, Hokage-sama. Please. I know I'm weak, I'm useless. But I… I can become strong. I'll do anything you ask, train however you want. Just give me the chance. I won't let you down. I promise."

Senju Tsunade leaned back, clicking her fingernails together. She stared at Sakura. Her dark brown eyes gleamed, inscrutable, unfathomable—and Sakura could not see what lay behind them.

"Fool," she said. "Don't make promises you can't keep. Let that be your first lesson… as my student…"

_The first lesson_. She had forgotten. Or maybe it was that she had never learned it, not really. What a stupid promise.

She stared at the gravestone for a long time, until it was sunset and the tomb gleamed ashen against the red-orange light.

Just then a little munchkin burst out running from the cemetery gates and hugged her waist, squealing. Kyoki. Sakura turned, putting her hand on Kyoki's head. Their mother followed behind Kyoki, stepping slowly along gray flint paths, carrying a bouquet of pink roses.

They had come for their family's weekly pilgrimage to her father's grave.

"Who's that?" Kyoki asked, looking at the tombstone.

"A ninja," Sakura said.

"How'd he die?"

"He was killed."

Kyoki was going to ask more, but their mother shushed the girl, which was unusual behavior for Haruno Umeka. Her mother looked almost determined.

"You didn't come back home yesterday," her mom said.

"No," Sakura said. "But I kept my word. I'm here now."

Their father was buried far from Sarutobi Saisen.

Sakura and her family headed for the original center of the cemetery. This was the place reserved for eminent personages, high-ranking and celebrated ninja. Sakura's father was eminent indeed, a legend whose name was as great as the Sannin. To her, though, he was just a large, jolly man, with a booming laugh and strong arms. He lifted her up in the air, laughing as he pressed the folds of his scratchy red beard to her face, smelling of lavender soap and safety, sanctuary and strength. "Don't do that, daddy!" she squealed, trying to get away from his beard, helpless in his gentle grip. The man laughed, his voice booming. "Come, little blossom. Won't you give you father a goodbye kiss?"

Like all the graves it was a simple one, just one white headstone. It read:

HARUNO ARASHI  
Jounin Captain  
"The Demonslayer"  
April 27, 487 – July 23, 518

Her mother laid the bouquet of roses at the foot of the grave. Then the three of them bent down to the floor and prayed to their father's spirit, for guidance, for wisdom. Sakura remembered the first time they had been here: that was a Sunday, too, though there were a lot more people. It had been a grand funeral. The Third Hokage himself had attended and given a little speech. Her mother was there, holding baby Kyoki in her arms, who didn't understand what was going on. Sakura remembered going forward to touch the gleaming wooden casket with her hand: it had been cold and smooth, not like her daddy's warm face, his scratchy beard. It would the closest she would ever get to that again. _How could you do this, daddy?_ was all she could think. _How could you do this to me?_ But he was gone and not all the tears or the prayers in the world would bring him back. She knew that now.

That was her first lesson.

After a while, their mother called Kyoki over to her and told her to go play elsewhere in the cemetery, and that she wanted to talk to Sakura alone.

"What?" asked Sakura.

"Sakura… I know about what happened. Kakashi-sama came and told me three days ago."

Sakura was dumbfounded. "You knew?"

"I thought… I thought you were going to tell me yourself. I wanted to give you some time."

For a moment she couldn't face her mother. She looked away, face burning. They didn't say anything for a while. Then her mother ventured again, "Please, Sakura. I want to understand. How did this happen? This isn't like you. Your father—"

Sakura exploded suddenly. "Always dad! Your father this, your father that. He's dead, mom! When're you gonna figure that out?"

Another long silence. Sakura glued her eyes to her father's gravestone. Finally she said, "Sorry. I didn't mean that. Really."

It didn't help. Her mom seemed so insubstantial then, so small, so tiny, ghostly pale and thin like sticks, like Sakura could blow on her and she would disappear, like pieces of paper held together with watery glue. She used to be beautiful, once. Sakura had seen the pictures, she even remembered. Now she was just a shell of her former self. The gray hair, the gaunt face, the pale lips and thick glasses and drab clothes. Not a living person but a ghost.

Haruno Umeka's lips moved, but no words came out. "Is this why you don't tell me anything?" she managed to say. "Sakura… I'm sorry. It's so hard for me to understand you. I just… please, I just want you to be happy."

"I know, mom." Sakura looked at the roses at her feet, her thoughts in turmoil, confused. She wanted to speak, but she was afraid. As if somehow, if she uttered the words, that would make it real, make it true—and then all that pain, that ache she had buried down inside her, it might come bursting out. But it was too late for that. _Too late_.

"What if… what if this is a good thing? Why should I be a ninja, anyway? Just because dad was? I wasn't very good, you know. I was always fucking up. I can't… I can't just walk in dad's shadow forever. I have to figure out what I want to do, who I am, for myself. I was thinking… I could apply to medical school… to become a doctor…"

Her mom couldn't contain herself any longer. She embraced Sakura, tears flowing, hugging her tightly. "Whatever you decide, I'll support you. I love you, Sakura. I'm always here for you. I'm your mom."

"I'm sorry," Sakura cried too.

Kyoki came running back. "I want a hug too!" she exclaimed, blissfully innocent. Mom picked her up and they had a nice group hug. The hug went on for a while but finally they separated.

"Sakura…" Her mother cleared her throat. "Kakashi-sama told me he thinks the Hokage overreacted. If you want a second chance, if you still want to be a ninja, he says he can help you. He says that he has faith in you." Her mother hesitated again, then continued. "And I… I know your father would too. Whatever happens… he would be proud."

"Thanks, mom," Sakura said.

Her mother nodded. Hand in hand, with Kyoki in between them, the Haruno family started for home.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER ****FIVE****: "****The Queen of Torment****"**

**Author's Note:** This is a reply to Mion's review:

**_Mion:_**_ "The fact that Sakura's father's a famous ninja... I, well, appreciate it. Because it gives her a start, a reason, a shadow to surpass - Sakura, I think, isn't so credible as the daughter of civilians. She just isn't - there would be no reason, none whatsoever. Sasuke wouldn't work because I think they start the Academy as kids - eight at least, and Sakura'd have to go to civilian school and, anyway, what kind of girl goes all obsessed on boys at eight years old? That's just disturbing."_

Yep. It never made sense why Sakura would want to be a ninja, to go through all that ninja training, without some sort of goal. Sasuke had one, Naruto had one too. But not Sakura. So I gave her one in the form of her dead father. I think it works in a thematic sense (following in dad's footsteps), as well as a practical one (paying off debts dad left behind).


	5. The Queen of Torment

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER FIVE: "The Queen of Torment"**

* * *

Sakura climbed the steps leading up to Hokage Mountain uneasily. The stone faces of the five Hokages loomed up over her. She tried not to look at them. Instead she looked at Kakashi, who walked ahead of her. His words echoed in her mind: "_I'll get you an audience with the Hokage. Ask her to let you go on the United Countries Embassy to Iwa. Konoha is already stretched past the breaking point between the December 7__th__ attack and all the resources being diverted to the Embassy. We badly need more personnel. She can't refuse you. You can still be a ninja._"

The Hokage's two assistants, Izumo and Kotetsu, stood guard outside the Hokage Residence, looking bored. They jumped to attention when they saw the two of them.

"Sakura!" Izumo said, flustered. "I'm sorry… you, uh, you're not really allowed to be here."

"Why not?" Kakashi asked.

"The Hokage sort of… banned her from the premises."

"I have a scheduled meeting with the Hokage over a matter of great importance. It concerns Sakura and requires her presence."

Izumo looked at Kotetsu. Kotetsu shook his head. "My apologies, Kakashi-sama. Our orders are strict."

"I see," Kakashi said. He tugged on his forehead protector, exposing his left eye. The red Sharingan eye swirled. A moment later the two assistants fell to the floor. The genjutsu had put them to sleep.

Kakashi stepped around the bodies to open the door for Sakura. They walked into the building and down a long hallway. Unexpectedly there was a squeal from behind them. A small, fat pink pig with stubby legs rushed across the tiled floor toward Sakura. The girl stretched out her arms to welcome the pig.

"Tonton!" Sakura said, laughing. "I missed you!"

Tonton squealed, delighting in Sakura's embrace, burrowing her soft snout into the girl's chest. Sakura tickled her and she squealed, her little paws milling in the air. The pig missed her, too, at least.

Abruptly Tonton jumped out of Sakura's arms. The pig ran down the hallway to the room at the end, snorted, and slipped through the ajar oak doors into the room.

The room at the end of the hall was the Hokage's office._ Damn pig_, Sakura thought, staring at the doors. _Gone in to your master, huh? _

"I can help you only up to this point," Kakashi said. "You must convince the Fifth to reinstate you by yourself.

Sakura was filled with doubts. "What should I say?"

"Don't back down—no matter what," Kakashi said. "Remember that the Fifth's most feared epithet is the _Queen of Torment_. She is a supreme master of psychological technique. She will be hostile and antagonistic. You will need to show her your strength under pressure."

And then they walked through the heavy oak doors into the Office of the Hokage.

The circular office was empty except for a large desk of gleaming dark wood, set against huge vaulting windows that opened into a panorama of Konoha stretching away from the mountain below. Senju Tsunade the Fifth Hokage was sitting behind the desk, posture perfect, elbows on the desk, hands clasped before her. She wore her formal uniform, and the headdress cast a dark shadow over her face so that Sakura could not see it. Tonton had jumped on her desk and curled up there next to her master.

The Hokage did not seem surprised in the least by Sakura's presence. "You're too soft, Kakashi," she said. "Always picking up other people's discarded trash."

Kakashi smiled. "So it seems. Besides, I have a personal responsibility here. It was my neglect as her teacher which did grave harm to Sakura's initial development in the first place. I failed to recognize her true potential."

"Don't be a fool. I don't blame myself when my pig shits in the grass. Why should you?"

"As you say, Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed and then withdrew. He gave a thumbs up to Sakura as he left, closing the door behind him.

The Hokage turned her gaze to Sakura, who was kneeling on the floor. "What do you want, girl?" she asked.

Sakura swallowed. "Tsunade-sensei… I beg you. Please, give me another chance."

"No."

"But—"

The Hokage waved her hand. "Get out."

"If I… if I could explain—"

"No."

"Everyone makes mistakes—"

"What you did was not a mistake. It was weakness. An uncorrectable defect in your nature. Don't take it too hard. Some people are just born that way."

_Don't back down_. "Tsunade-sensei… you trained me for four months—"

"I only took you on out of respect for your father. Four months of suffering and one dead ANBU is enough. Go away, girl. You can't be a ninja. There are other ways that weak people can contribute to the village. Perhaps you could become a nurse. Or a librarian, I suppose."

"Being a ninja is my whole life."

"Yes, but why, when you are manifestly so worthless at it? Is it your father? You cannot win the approval of a corpse."

"No…"

"What, girl, can't you say his name? God knows your former teammate never shut up about him. Sasuke this, Sasuke that. I will tell you a secret. You hardly need to be a ninja to be Uchiha Sasuke's slut.

"What—"

"If you really want your traitor boyfriend so badly, then go to him. I won't stop you. Though by the time Orochimaru gets done performing his sick experiments on his new little boytoy… turns him into some snake freak…well…"

"I don't care about Sasuke!" Sakura cried.

"Then what, exactly, girl, _do you want_?"

All of a sudden Sakura was breathing hard. Her fists were clenched so tightly the nails dug into her palms. Suddenly it was more than just not backing down. It was personal. Tsunade-sensei was her teacher. How could she say these things, how could she do this? Especially when…

"I just want a chance… to make up for what I did," Sakura said. "I just want the same chance… that you gave yourself."

Senju Tsunade stared at her. "This conversation is becoming tedious. Get out."

"No. Not until you tell me why you're doing this to me. You're my sensei! Why do you hate me so much? Why?"

"Get out, girl," the Hokage said. "I will only say it once more."

But Sakura wasn't finished. She pointed an accusing finger at the Hokage, caught up in her fury, her bitterness. "You hypocrite, you liar! You want to say I'm too weak? That's you! I know—"

"Get out."

"—You left the village for sixteen years because you were too weak! The war had screwed with you, you couldn't handle it! You were so depressed you ran away! You weren't strong! You were a coward! I screwed up, but I'm not a coward. I never ran away from anything—"

"Fool," the Hokage said.

FOOL.

The word echoed and echoed in her mind, growing, overpowering everything, all sensation… _a __genjutsu! _She made the move to dispel the genjutsu, but nothing happened. Impossible. She could partly break even S-rank genjutsu. Unless it was…

_Torment! The ultimate genjutsu. The jutsu that drew from the power of Shinigami itself. The jutsu of insanity. The fate worse than death—_

Her vision cracked apart like glass, shattered into a million pieces. She was falling into an endless black void—

Suddenly the girl found herself standing on a lake in a cold, gray dawn sky. Through the thick haze of fog she could barely see distant mountain peaks. Where was she? What was she doing here? She had been doing something… couldn't remember. Was this a dream? There was a horrible smell, a sick stench that made her gag and reel. She stumbled to her knees, almost feeling like she was going to retch. Then she realized where the smell was coming from.

Floating in the water of that lake, everywhere, were layers and layers of cold corpses. They were packed together like sardines, and the water was red with their blood. They had been there for some time, days at least. The stench of the decomposing bodies filled the air, everything. Sakura stared into the blank eyes of a dead ninja, frozen stiff and rotten with maggots. His Konoha forehead protector was cracked and half-melted. And next to him, the corpse of a stone-nin… everything was totally silent. In the thick fog she could hear or see nothing. Clamping down her mouth and nose with her uniform shirt, she tried to get away from the lake, away from this massacre and slaughter. She tried not to step on any corpses, but there were so many, there was no help to it.

Suddenly the lake shook, churned, as if the earth beneath was breaking apart. In the midst of all that fog, she saw a faint red glow, a red circle upon the crimson water. A beam of light shining up out of the lake. Something about it drew her to it, somehow. She dived beneath the lake into the cold frozen water. Beneath the layer of corpses and blood and mud that clouded the surface, the lake was suddenly crystal clear, and illumed with light. The light was unnatural, a bright red radiance which flooded out of a large passage cut into the lake bottom, hundreds of meters beneath the surface.

She swam down through the water toward the passage. Finally, just when she thought her lungs were going to burst, she emerged out of the water into a chamber carved out of the rock, branching out into a complex warren of man-made tunnels. It was a secret base. Shivering, lungs burning, now the girl saw what the red glow was—flickering emergency lights, wailing red siren shrieks. There were corpses of ninja here, too: fresher now, splayed grotesquely on the floor and walls, stabbed or sliced or crushed or blown to bits. From the trail of corpses, it was clear which way the battle had gone. She followed the trail into the tunnels.

The rock shook again, trembled. The walls splintered. Rubble and dust fell from the ceiling. What was that? What was happening? But somehow Sakura did not feel afraid and pressed on. She walked through dimly lit tunnels, past blown-apart steel vaults, into ruined barracks and across bizarre, delirious laboratories filled with whirling electronic equipment, moving lower and deeper into the stone earth. She knew because it was getting colder. It was like the deeper she got, the more the heat was being sucked out of the stone. Her breath made hot vapor in the frozen air.

And here she began to hear the screaming. It was the screaming from a battle that was still going on. Sakura started running. Suddenly she came to it: an immense natural cave, hundreds of meters tall and even wider, a hidden cavern buried a kilometer beneath the earth. The cave was filled with ice, glittering limestone icicles that dripped from the ceiling in long daggers. And in the middle of this cavern there was a terrible thing. It was immense, frozen, a gigantic metal and flesh construct covered in ice, fed by huge, black cables that burst from the floor and which thrust deep into its chest—the thing had a chest, which seemed to breathe and heave, blinking lights and pulsing arteries and seals screeching with electric power—like a giant frozen incubator, a metal and flesh womb. The thing shrieked, as if damaged, and with each heaving the walls of the cavern cracked, the ground trembled. Beneath that frozen shell and metal crust there was something very hot, because billows of steam shuddered out of it through the hole that had blown in its side, hissing against the cave ceiling. And it bled—rivers of black blood, like oil, that poured out of the hole.

All around this terrible machine, in this frozen ice cavern, ninja were fighting and killing and dying. Hundreds of them, teeming and swarming, attacking each other in waves, like two tides breaking on each other, and each time the water that tossed and sloshed was human blood. So intense, so desperate.

"The complex is collapsing!" a man yelled above the roar of battle. "We have to get out!" A man, with flowing white hair.

"Not yet!" the voice of a woman shouted back. A familiar voice, like a winter reed. It seemed younger. "Get the crystal! The Annihilation Heart!"

No one seemed to notice Sakura. She waded into that furious din, seemed to pass through it like an invisible ghost. Confusion everywhere, chaos, shouting and screaming, smoke and lightning and fire and flashing, thundering weapons. The cavern walls were cracking apart, reams of icicles broke and stabbed down into the struggling ninja. Everything shook wildly. The girl could barely tell what was going on. But get close to the machine. That was the key, that was the heart of everything.

The man with flowing white hair and the woman led a group of Konoha ninja, slashing their way through the ranks of stone-nin. Suddenly they were in front of the heaving machine construct. Then Sakura saw it—glittering there, gleaming, in the center of the damaged thing, within the gaping hole ripped open in its side—the thing, the fetus, at the core of that womb. It was a seething heart, a steaming crystal blazing white with incomprehensible heat. _The Annihilation Heart_. She had seen it before, somewhere, but she couldn't remember where.

Suddenly there were Iwa ninja everywhere, enveloping them. "The crystal!" the man shouted. The man leapt forward, fighting against the Iwa ninja—and without warning he exploded, bursting apart as if from inside. A gold haze occupied the space his upper body had been. _Bakudan_, a voice seemed to tell the girl from somewhere. Somehow her eyes found the assassin. There—a stone-nin, an Iwa ANBU. The ninja's eyes shimmered red-orange through a mask that was a carved bear.

"Dan!" the woman screamed from somewhere close. She ran at the Iwa ANBU. But Sakura only had eyes for the seething heart crystal. Its light was so beautiful, so, so pure. It was the most extraordinary thing she had ever seen. Sakura reached out for it—

An immense burning scalding, agony and pain that coursed through her hands where she touched it, she was screaming and screaming—

Everything was filled with a searing white light. The crystal exploded, an immense violent detonation of heat and energy, and it was a bomb like the death of a star. Sakura felt her own body dissolve in the explosion, burn away to scattered atoms. And the rest of them, the construct, the cavern, the earth, the lake, the people, a thousand lives and souls—all burned away into nothingness in an instant. Yet the instant lingered, replaying in a loop, over and over again. And in her hands the fetus heart seemed as if it was a face, an eyeless mouth. The mouth screamed.

It screamed of Torment.

Sakura screamed with it. The agony, the overwhelming horror. Paralyzing fear. Unspeakable torture, violence. All of it… so much! Everywhere. War. Death. Destruction. So many deaths. So many killings. So much pain. Grief and shame. Despair and regret. Torment. So much! The girl felt her mind breaking apart—erasing—dissolving into a living hell—madness—insanity—an endless scream—

The white light shattered into a million pieces. The genjutsu cracked, vanished, and Haruno Sakura was on her knees on the tiled floor of the Office of the Hokage in Konoha.

The girl shuddered violently. Hot tears leaked down her cheeks, and she thought she would choke on her own vomit. She couldn't breathe. The vision of the screaming crystal still filled her mind, more than shock, more than a nightmare. A prophecy. One moment more and she knew she would have gone completely insane.

_God… it wasn't real… just a genjutsu—_

Except her hands. They were burned, scalded. The skin of the palms peeled off, melted third-degree burns where she had touched that crystal. The crystal… but the crystal wasn't real. It was a genjutsu. She stared at her hands for a second, uncomprehending. Could the jutsu be that powerful? Could it actually turn illusion into reality? But hadn't she died in the illusion? No, the genjutsu had ended just before. Just before her own death.

_So this… this is Torment…_

_Torment… the fate worse than death…_

No one had ever survived it unless they were meant to.

Through the pain the girl managed to wrench her neck upwards. She looked up with wide, blurred eyes.

Senju Tsunade the Queen of Torment loomed down right over her. "Fool," she said. "That is what war is. That is what this life means. You do not want it."

The woman turned away. Her command was left unspoken.

Sakura's voice quavered and trembled, but she forced herself to speak. Somehow she remembered Kakashi's words. _Don't back down. Don't back down no matter what._

"Why… why didn't you finish it?"

The woman stopped. She turned back.

"If you… if you really hate me so much… if you really think it should have been me… then finish it. Kill me. I—I'm not afraid! I won't run away. Kill me!"

The woman stared down at her. Her dark eyes gleamed. They were full of something strange, something Sakura did not understand. The Hokage spoke softly.

"And why, girl, would I do something like that?"

Sakura held her scalded, shaking hands in front of her. The pain was incredible. Blood dripped down from her hands onto the floor. Slowly, painfully, she got to her feet unsteadily. The girl looked her teacher in the eye, face to face. She spoke. "Then… then let me go on the UC Embassy. I know… I'm weak. It was my fault Beater died. I know that. If I could sacrifice my life to bring him back, I would—but I can't. But what if… if I could become stronger? And then I could… bring someone else back? To make up for what I did. Please, Tsunade-sensei. I want… I need another chance."

"So be it," the Hokage said.

As she said the words the Hokage turned away and walked back to her desk. Tonton jumped up from where she lay curled up and ran into her master's arms. Back turned to Sakura, head lowered, so that the symbol of the Fire Country on the back of her robe was her only prominent feature, the Hokage spoke:

"You are too weak to be a ninja now. So I will not restore your rank at once. But I shall grant you the chance you so desire. There is an opening in the United Countries Embassy for a personal servant. Someone who will help to manage my mundane daily affairs en route to Iwa. Your primary duty will be to take care of my pig. I trust this duty shall not be too demanding… In the meantime, _prepare yourself._ When the Embassy arrives at Iwa, I will test you. It will be a test of strength. If you pass my test, then you shall be reinstated as a ninja, and you shall participate in the Iwa chuunin exams. If you fail… then it's over. Do you understand?"

Sakura nodded.

The Hokage turned. The headdress cast a long, dark shadow, and Sakura could not see her face. She walked over to Sakura and thrust Tonton into the girl's burned, flayed hands. It was extremely painful, but Sakura forced herself not to drop the pig. Tonton squealed happily, rubbing her fat pink bulk against her new caretaker's stomach.

"Dismissed," the Hokage said.

The girl walked out of the office as best she could. As soon as she turned the corner, though, she collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor. She shook all over. She couldn't breathe. All she could see was a lake of corpses, and a seething, burning crystal, and a mouth that screamed torment. Torment. The girl wanted to run away but she didn't know where to go.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER SIX: "The Kindling" **

**Author's Note: **My response to a few negative reviews about Tsunade's characterization:

_**1. CladInPink: **"Personally, I think Tsunade is pretty out of character, as you portray her as a strict no-nonsense, no-mercy kind of person. Also, I don't recall her referring to Sakura as 'girl', at least not after she took her on as an apprentice." _

Tsunade is definitely OOC. That's kind of the point of the story, because in the canon version Tsunade is an incompetent bimbo, especially in Part 2. I want to write her as a strong and capable leader. Though I don't think Tsunade's core personality is THAT different from in the manga (I don't watch the anime). I wrote her a little harsher/bitchier than she seems to be in the canon, but those core characteristics were always there. Some evidence:

1. From Narutopedia: "Tsunade typically projects a tough demeanor, even when facing great personal difficulty, and rarely compliments or praises people. She readily criticizes others for their faults, such as Naruto for his immaturity, or Jiraiya for his perversion... When first introduced, Tsunade is cynical of anyone with dreams... In life-threatening or important situations that involve someone she cares in danger, she tends to anger against people who disagree with her plan."  
2. Tsunade often calls Naruto "boy" or "brat," especially when she is insulting him (Chapter 158, page 12; Chapter 159, page 17). I don't remember her calling Sakura "girl," but that's only because they have like 3 speaking scenes together in the whole manga. It's consistent with her bitchy, rude way of speaking.  
3. Jiraiya, Chapter 156 page 8: "Tsunade is really short-tempered, you know." (also see Chapter 491)  
4. Tsunade, Chapter 158 page 5: "Jiraiya, this kid seems worse than your previous apprentice... in terms of looks, speech, and intelligence."  
5. Tsunade, Chapter 158 page 8: "Being Hokage is shit... no one but a fool would do it."  
6. Tsunade: Chapter 158, page 12: "One of the Legendary Sannin taking on a snot-nosed Genin... I oughta be ashamed of myself."

Basically, Tsunade is a bitch. She's arrogant, critical, and at the same time gets pissed off easily. It stands to reason Tsunade does not exactly have the most polite attitude toward Sakura when she's angry, no? You also have to take into account the circumstances around her two encounters with Sakura so far in the fic. Tsunade was extremely steamed when she said the things she did. Did she plan ahead of time on stripping Sakura's rank, or using Torment on Sakura? Probably not. She did it because she wasn't thinking clearly and overreacted. That's classic Tsunade.

There is one thing I'll admit. I do have a specific agenda behind my characterization of Tsunade. I think the only way female ninja could survive in a universe like NARUTO is to be tough—twice as tough as the men. This is why Tsunade is so obsessed with strength; it comes directly from her personal experiences. This is a major theme of the story. Tsunade would never have become the Hokage if she was some weak softy. She's the Hokage because she's the toughest queen bitch in the universe. And that's the way I'm going to write her.

_**2. Kurtulmak**: "I have to stop reading this fic at this point. You're not a bad writer. You do a good job of description of scenes, portrayal of character's emotions, and you have a good sense of pacing. But the abominable thing you've done to Tsunade is just unforgivably painful to read. I've seen bashing of characters where they are turned into utterly amoral jackasses before, but having Tsunade tell her own apprentice that she should have died in place of someone else at the worst possible time for her mental recovery and then later torturing her for standing up against her if just repugnant._

_Your thin justifications that "Tsunade is a bitch" doesn't cover it. Tsunade's grumpy and short-tempered, but not a sadist. Likely to break furniture or to yell at and browbeat someone? Sure. Likely to inflict some of the cruelest wounds possible when angered? Hell, no. And this is what you think a "strong and capable leader" should be? Someone who burns resources as soon They Have Failed Her? And who does so with psychological torture and verbal abuse? This isn't being "tough." This is being a monster, not a leader. A villain on par with Orochimaru. Sorry, but I can't enjoy reading a fic that makes me angry from character rape."_

Okay, a couple points:

1) When I wrote in the Author's Note that Tsunade was a "strong and capable" leader, I didn't mean that her behavior toward Sakura was an example of that. Just the opposite: her behavior toward Sakura is basically the only area in this fic where she DOES show weakness. I realize that saying Tsunade is a strong leader at the end of Chapter 5 seems like a justification of what happened in Chapter 5. Sorry. If you had continued reading ahead to Chapter 6, you'd see what I actually meant by Tsunade's strength and leadership. Her speech about the United Countries—proactive, visionary, unifying, and utterly pragmatic—is everything that the canon Tsunade would never be able to do.

2) I'll admit that I overdid Tsunade's scene in Chapter 2. At the time my main goal was to drive home Sakura's mistake in the most dramatic way possible. I wasn't really thinking so much about Tsunade and whether she would really say something like "it should have been you" in that situation. Most likely (even given that she's a bitch) she wouldn't. That line is probably my most serious misstep on this fic. If I was going to write it again, I would have Tsunade say something entirely different. Unfortunately at this point in the story it's too hard to go back and fix it because there are so many ramifications later on.

3) This one line aside, I don't in any way take back Tsunade's other actions, including stripping Sakura's rank and using the "Torment" genjutsu on her. That's because I know the real, deeper reason behind those actions, while you (and Sakura) don't. Nothing that Tsunade does in Chapter 5 is out of keeping with a more extreme version of the canon Tsunade. In the canon, Tsunade is a strong but scarred woman who cares deeply about the village and cares deeply about Sakura. The Tsunade in my fic is like that as well.

Now, yes, Tsunade's love for Sakura is not evident in the first six chapters. That is intentional on my part because I wanted Sakura to feel alienated from her sensei so she could learn how to be strong and self-reliant on her own. Sakura is supposed to wonder whether Tsunade cares about her even as a human being. However, this question can be asked ONLY because those chapters are from Sakura's limited POV. If you were seeing those scenes from Tsunade's perspective they would look very different. And in fact, much of this story is precisely about Sakura coming to understand what Tsunade was really doing, and the real reason for why Tsunade discharged Sakura.

Again, I admit that Tsunade is OOC in certain respects. But at the same time I hope you don't jump to conclusions too soon... especially 6 chapters into what is a very, very long fic. I will state again that _Tsunade loves Sakura very much and would do anything to protect her_. I hope no reader doubts that for a moment.


	6. The Kindling

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER SIX: "The Kindling" **

* * *

It was a fine spring morning when the United Countries Embassy mission left Konoha.

There was a big parade to see them off and all the villagers had come to celebrate, lining the route all the way from Hashirama Square to the main gate. Ceremonial police stood at guard and bands blasted trumpets while the hundreds of members of the Embassy marched alongside groaning horse-drawn supply wagons, waving to the gathered crowds. First came the Hokage in full dress uniform, minus the headdress, riding a gleaming white stallion like some fairy-tale queen. The villagers applauded wildly whenever she appeared, shaking little green flags, throwing fistfuls of ticker tape. Next came the politicians and High Council members; then the soldiers: ANBU, jounin, chuunin, genin; then the priests; then the professionals, all manner of diplomats, bureaucrats, functionaries; and last the laborers and servants. It was to this last group that Sakura belonged.

At the gates, still closed, the Embassy paused and a bunch of Fire priests shuffled out and started burning incense and praying for the success and safety of the mission. Sakura took this opportunity to say goodbye to her family. Kyoki had laughed along the parade route, playing with Tonton, excited by the spectacle and crowd and noise, but now she started crying and buried her face in her big sister's chest. "I'll miss you, Sakura!" she wailed.

Sakura picked up her sister and hugged her fiercely. "I'll miss you, too," she whispered.

Her mother was more composed. She handed Sakura a wrapped package, items for the trip. "Be safe," she said softly, cupping lined hands around her daughter's face.

"I'll be back soon. I promise," said Sakura.

Haruno Umeka smiled, but the joy did not quite reach her eyes. She stood with Kyoki behind the roped sidewalk then, waving as Sakura rejoined the others. Most of her friends were there: Ino and Chouji, Lee and Neji, Tenten. Famous ninja, too, the leaders of the village clans, people like Hyuuga Hiashi and Sarutobi Inishu and Nara Shikaku. Two High Council members, expert professionals like the doctor Micho and the diplomat Arashi the Calculator and Taki the Judge and the physicist Soeru. A contingent of Fire Priests led by the legendary monk Chiriku. The best, the strongest of Konoha. And her.

What was she doing here? Redemption? Was that it?_ A chance to make up for what I did_. She had told the Hokage that.

Or was it that promise that she had made? To bring Sasuke back—from the darkness, from evil. To save the boy she loved. Was that it?

Or was it just herself? The questions burned in her mind. The first question: _Why am I so weak? _And the question which followed like a reflection:_ How can a weak person become strong? _She needed to know the answer, she knew. She needed it desperately, insanely. But why? She didn't know, but somehow the answer seemed more important than anything in the world. More important than her life.

Sakura walked aimlessly through the Embassy luggage wagons, playing with Tonton as functionaries swarmed this way and that, barking last-minute instructions, checking and rechecking furiously. In the distance the Hokage sat on her white horse while Kakashi and some of the High Councilors conferred with her. The Fire priests were finishing up their ritual prayers. It was almost time to leave.

Just then Ino and Chouji came up to her. They knew what had happened to her, of course. They all knew now. There was a boy with them, a genin, someone she didn't know.

"Sooo, Sakura, how do you like being the official UC Embassy pigwasher?" Ino asked, giggling. Sakura knew she said it without malice. Ino didn't care at all. _Stuff happens, right?_ her best friend had said.

Ino barreled on. "Oh, hey. This is Anake. He's going to take the chuunin exam with our team. The new Team Asuma. Since you got demoted to pigwasher and all." She leaned in close, giggling, whispering in Sakura's ear. "He's kind of cute, isn't he?"

Shimura Anake vaguely reminded her of Sasuke. She had heard of the boy. He had graduated the year after them, a genius, number one in his class just like Sasuke. They had the same kind of dark stuck-up conceited cool look, except Anake had blue eyes and Sasuke was better at it.

"Nice to meet you," she said.

"Indeed." Anake smirked. He looked Sakura up and down. "A pity you were discharged. Otherwise I would never have had the chance of being teamed up with these two fine specimens of the ninja world. An airhead bimbo who couldn't tell a kunai from a tube of lipstick to save her life. And a gluttonous fatass who after a few weeks of tasting our meager rations on the Embassy would undoubtedly sell me to Akatsuki in exchange for a jar of jellybeans. Ah, wonderful, magnificent! Surely I shall pass the Iwa chuunin exam, the most infamous, the most horrifyingly difficult exam on earth, with these glorious comrades at my side. Thank you again for being discharged. Pardon me, I have to go kill myself now."

Anake put his hands in his pockets and walked away.

"His teammates got killed on a mission a couple months back," Ino explained. "He's, uh, not so bad once you get to know him…"

"Are we really going to have to eat rations on the Embassy?" Chouji asked, eyes wide.

"A bowl of noodles and two cans of beans per meal. That's for genin." Ino pointed at Sakura. "You get less."

Chouji looked like his mouth was going to fall off. Mournfully he rubbed his stomach, which in response actually produced a rumble of hunger. It sounded awful. At last he cried out: "This is gonna be a really, really long summer!"

"Of that, young Akimichi, you could not be more right," a voice said behind them.

It was the Hokage. Somehow she had sidled next to them on her white horse unnoticed. Tresses of long golden hair fell in waves against her shoulders, blazing in the bright sun. In the center of her forehead gleamed a lone purple diamond, and her eyes flashed like fire-lit jewels. She was, truly, a queen, and even Sakura was taken aback by her stunning beauty.

All the people in the Embassy snapped to attention when they saw her. Many kneeled. "Hokage-sama," they whispered. "Hokage-sama!"

The Hokage laughed. Her laughter was like silver chimes, soft and flowing and cool. "It is time!" she called. "_Open the gates_."

Ninjas at either side manned the great winches, turned them. On cue trumpets blared, drums beat. A tidal wave of sound. With an enormous creaking the main gates opened, first as a slitted window, then as a dam flooding wide open. The forests of the Fire Country waited for them beyond the village walls, endless waves of green tangled trees stretching to the horizon, looming. And beyond that, their mission. The United Countries Embassy. They would travel across eight countries, half the world, to dozens of cities and thirteen hidden ninja villages. First across the Fire Country, to the capital Ashwarren. Then through the River, Waterfall, Grass, and Rain Countries. Into the Wind Country and Suna. And at last through the Swamp Country to the Earth Country, and to the Iwa chuunin exam.

The United Countries Embassy. The hope of the world.

"Hokage-sama!" the crowd cried now, as if one voice. "Hokage-sama!" "The Fifth!" "The Fifth!"

Then pulling on the reins of her horse Senju Tsunade the Queen of Torment galloped away, into the blazing white center of the avenue before the main gates. She wheeled around to face the Embassy caravan arrayed in rows, the gathered crowd of villagers. The wind blew through the open gates, and her long, shining locks flapped behind her in the wind, gleaming like sun-spun thread. They all stared at her, transfixed. All longed to hear her words.

The Fifth Hokage's voice carried through the air like fire.

"My fellow citizens, my fellow ambassadors!" she shouted. "We set forth now on a great mission! The United Countries Embassy! What is at stake is nothing less than the peace of the whole earth. Each one of you has been specially chosen—your skills, your talents, your potential, whether as soldiers or diplomats, scientists or men of God. Know that through your work, your behavior and actions, you will be representing us to the world. You will show the world who we are. And who are we?" She raised her arms high to either side, spreading her palms to face the sun. "I said, _who are we_?" she cried.

"The Leaf!" they all shouted back, a deafening roar that filled the village, the furious waving of ten thousand little green and red flags, clapping and cheering. "The people of the Leaf, the people of Fire! The heirs of Senju!"

"Yes! And when seven decades ago the entire world was gripped in the thrall of lawless anarchy, why do countless millions now live in peace and freedom?"

"Konoha!"

"And when the oppressed, the suffering, the powerless cry out for salvation, where is the shining beacon of hope to which they turn?"

"Konoha!"

The Hokage's voice elevated to its greatest height. "And when, in ditches and ravines, in the darkest of hours and in the terrible fury of war, our fathers and grandfathers struggled, did their duty, and died, what was it, what was the dream, for which they gave their lives?"

"Konoha! KONOHA!"

"Amen." The Hokage wheeled around the horse again in a broad circle, riding along the main avenue. "Konoha! Our great tree, with its enduring roots and strong branches and countless leaves, constantly renewing itself, constantly growing and changing. Is that not such a fitting symbol for our hidden village? We only need consider the crisis which has come before us in the present moment.

Six months ago, on that day of infamy December 7th, we were attacked by an unprecedented terrorist plot, an invasion of Konoha itself by the organization Akatsuki and its leader Orochimaru the White Snake. Akatsuki had under a program of sinister deception secretly taken control of the hidden villages Suna and Oto and used them as pawns in an attempt to destroy Konoha itself. The December 7th attack struck us, as it were, like a bolt of hellish lightning, and pierced deep into the trunk. Many lives were lost that day—the best of us all. And even as we rallied to drive the enemy to utter defeat, even as Orochimaru fled in terror back to the wretched little cave where he lurks, the future of the village was deeply uncertain. The dire prospect of a sustained economic, military, and political catastrophe loomed before us.

Consequently, in the immediate aftermath of December 7th, I told you that our top priority must be to stabilize the village and prevent our losses in the invasion from spiraling into an even more disastrous economic depression. We instituted a temporary emergency plan to mobilize manpower in order to repair our defenses and rebuild our revenues. I am proud to say to you that today, because of all the extraordinary sacrifices of our many courageous soldiers in uniform, this has been done. The gratitude of every heart in this country goes out to the teams of shinobi who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the crisis by their prowess and by their devotion.

We have made known to the world that there is no place on earth that can recover more quickly, from greater crisis, than Konoha. Now the immediate danger has largely passed. We are on a surer footing; we have endured; we are gathering renewed strength.

Yet we cannot underestimate the crisis. The crisis is still before us, and fear and hope are alike beneath it. Fear because the reality of the international situation tells us that, as long as Akatsuki exists, the horror of December 7th is but the harbinger to even more deadly and more terrible events. And hope because our fortunes are still in our own hands; because it is we who have the power to save the future.

That is the mission of this United Countries Embassy.

There are some gentlemen, and I do not doubt their sincerity, who question the fundamental concept of the United Countries. They claim that the future vision of an international organization dedicated to maintaining world peace is too impractical, too idealistic.

What these noble gentlemen forget is that Akatsuki has already shown us their vision of the future. They showed it to us on December 7th in the life's blood of our sons.

Their objective is absolute tyranny and dominion over mankind. These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to end our way of life. With every atrocity, whether on December 7th, or the massacres in the Rain Country, or the concentration camps in Sound, they only become more aggressive. Do not harbor any delusions! Their greatest hope is that Konoha grows fearful, retreating from the world and isolating ourselves behind these great oak walls, so that they shall have space to work their evil unconstrained. They stand against us, because we stand in their way.

But Konoha will not hide. We will not run, or hesitate, or falter until ultimate victory.

We will not stop until Akatsuki has been utterly destroyed and the scourge of tyranny wiped from the earth forever.

I promise you that. But I must be frank with you as well. This war shall not be easy. Neither can we do it by ourselves; it is too great an undertaking. The reality of that brutal truth was exposed undeniably on the day December 7th.

On December 7th we saw our vulnerability—and we saw its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny—whether it is Wind, or Sound, or Rain, or even parts of our own Fire Country—violence and terror will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. We paid for the poverty of the Wind Country in our own blood.

Of course, it is clear the December 7th invasion exposed several serious vulnerabilities in our military and economic structure. I have spoken of the necessary reforms we must make at length elsewhere, and I shall not repeat them now. But I will say this. No domestic reform, however necessary, is enough to ensure the long-term security and stability of Konoha. In this new century, there is no hidden village or country or even alliance of countries with the power to claim military supremacy over the rest. Any attempt to do so would only generate an escalating arms race that could not but end in a Fourth Ninja War.

Moreover, the greatest danger to our security in this increasingly interconnected world comes not from states, but from transnational threats—rogue terrorist groups, such as Akatsuki, that operate secretly in many countries.

We can no longer afford to deny the fact of our overwhelming interdependence with the other peoples of earth. Today's security threats cannot be addressed in isolation. The only way to reduce global threats is to design and implement global solutions. I shall give you a tangible example of what I propose. Six months ago, in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, I struck an alliance with the hidden village of Suna. This was, to put it lightly, a highly controversial move. But I said to you then that the alliance was necessary in order to save ourselves—that cooperation and collaboration, instead of enmity and mistrust, would further both the interests of Konoha and Suna. And it is so. Only days ago, with critical intelligence provided to us from the sand-nins, a shinobi team was able to infiltrate a high-level Akatsuki meeting. We recovered a vital document which demonstrates Akatsuki's plans to instigate a Fourth Ninja War. They are recruiting rogue ninja from all around the world. Their plan is well in motion. I tell you this to impress the urgent and even existential nature of the present crisis, which we are only aware of through the alliance with our former enemies.

This crisis has only one solution.

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and destroy the power of terror, and that is the force of peace. In the modern world, the survival of peace and freedom in our country increasingly depends on the success of peace and freedom in other countries.

To that end, today I shall personally lead an Embassy abroad in order to create the international organization called the United Countries. The United Countries will be a permanent structure of peace. It will be an instrument for the willing cooperation of free peoples in a world in which, relieved of the menace of aggression, all may enjoy economic and social security. Only such an instrument will have the power to unite the strength of the world to destroy Akatsuki.

God willing, the war against Akatsuki will be the last war ever to be fought; and it shall be the war on terror.

In my absence, I am appointing Hatake Kakashi, one of our greatest shinobi, as my Executor in Konoha. He shall speak with my voice and my complete confidence. Let there be no dissent or disunion; for our strength is our unity of purpose. We must not be divided at the crucial moment.

I do not wish to give the impression that all mistakes can be avoided and that many disappointments are not inevitable in the making of the United Countries and in the war against terror. But we must not lose the hope of establishing a new order for the ages which will be capable of maintaining peace and realizing a more perfect union between peoples. This organization must be the fulfillment of the promise for which men have fought and died since the Founding of Konoha. It must be the justification of all the sacrifices that have been made.

To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

My fellow ambassadors! I speak to you now particularly. This country, this great tree, has placed its destiny in your hands. All our hopes go with you on your mission. Never before in the history of the village has such an extraordinary gathering of talent, of prowess, of devotion, been assembled as one. It is as if we went to the great tree and we went and found all the noblest branches, and the strongest twigs, and the most beautiful little leaves, and we gathered it all up before us as kindling.

Yes, that is what this Embassy is. That is what we are: we are the kindling. _When the tree leaves dance, one shall find flames. The fire's shadow will illuminate__ the village, and once again, tree leaves shall bud anew_. Do you understand? We shall be as the kindling in the flame! And we shall spread fire!—a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power; it burns those who fight its progress. As hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. And one day this untamed fire of peace will reach the darkest, most wretched corners of our world. My fellow ambassadors! This glorious United Countries Embassy shall make history—and I hope it will be better history than ever has been made before. Let us go forward together with our united strength!"

The Hokage paused. For a long, lengthening moment her eyes swept the crowd. When she spoke at last her voice was almost a whisper, so that all strained forward to hear, and there was utter silence: "I pray that we may be worthy of the unlimited opportunities that God has granted us."

Then the Hokage pulled on her reins hard, and the powerful white stallion rose up on its hind legs, kicking the air and whinnying in triumph. The Hokage laughed, a sound like silver chimes. Spurring the flanks of the horse she shouted and galloped away, out of the gates of Konoha. Her hair and robe streamed behind her, shining, blinding.

The Embassy followed. Horses, foot, and wagon all moved simultaneously, a gigantic jumble of noise, a chorus of human voices, shrill whistles and excited laughter. Trumpets played. Drums beat. The villagers left behind threw ticket tape and fanned silken streamers. The wind caught the ambassadors of the Embassy as they marched forward, and suddenly their robes and flags seemed to billow like huge threaden sails, borne with the current back into Konoha. But the ambassadors pressed on, and then in what seemed like a moment they had passed out of the gates.

Sakura looked back once, as the Embassy was entering the forest paths. Through the tangles of dripping leaves the walls of Konoha loomed high as the hills, and in the distance she could just see the carved heads of the Hokages staring out on the mountain above the walls like ghosts. It was her home and she had seen it a thousand times before. But now she tried to look more closely, as if trying to catch of a glimpse of something unseen, some revelation or accusation, some insight that perhaps would reveal itself, now, as they receded in the distance. There was nothing; and at last the walls of Konoha faded away into the cool, enveloping darkness of the forest, and to the winding stone paths that led, so it was said, west across half the world. She would walk them now. To the Earth Country. To Iwa.

_Prepare yourself_, a voice told her inside.

Sakura listened.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER ****SEVEN****: "****Will of Fire****"**

**Author's Note: **Tsunade's speech in this chapter incorporates long extracts from a number of real-world speeches, including those of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George W. Bush. The parallel is entirely intentional.

A lot of people have questions about the December 7th attack/the United Countries Embassy/changes to the canon story, etc. Here are my responses:

_**1. Analelle**: "Parts of the story are starting to fill in, but I'm still pretty confused about what happened. So Akatsuki and the sand attacked Konoha together instead of Orochimaru? Was Tsunade the hokage at the time of the invasion or did the 3rd hokage die during the invasion and Tsunade just became the enxt hokage? A lot of things still haven't been explained. It'd be nice if you added a prologue to the first chapter or something to give us a summary of what happened."_

In regards to your questions, everything important that happened before the start of WILL OF STONE is still the same as in the canon. Orochimaru and Suna invaded Konoha during the chuunin exam (the "December 7th" attack), the Third Hokage died trying to seal Orochimaru's soul, and then Jiraiya and Naruto went to find Tsunade. The Rescue Sasuke Arc is also the same.

Now I guess what's confusing to you is that in the story Sakura thinks that Akatsuki was part of the invasion of Konoha. She thinks this because she believes Orochimaru is the leader of Akatsuki. (Check out Chapter 10 for a detailed summary of her thoughts.) IN FACT, as we know, Orochimaru left Akatsuki seven years ago and is NOT the leader and Akatsuki was NOT part of the invasion.

So why does Sakura (and everyone else) think Orochimaru is the leader of Akatsuki? Two possibilities spring to mind. One, Konoha just has bad intel. Two, the Konoha leadership, i.e. the Hokage, is lying to everyone for their own purposes. This storyline will be returned to later on in the novel.

_**2. saylovesdiva**: "This is a good story. I am enjoying it even if it's a little angtsy. My question though is this December 7. The way you potray how everyone is acting & the banners, reminds me of sept 11. Was that your intent?"_

Yes, there is supposed to be a parallel to both the September 11th attack and the bombing of Pearl Harbor (which occurred on December 7th, 1941). The United Countries organization Tsunade is trying to create in the story is analogous to the real-world United Nations. So there is a little bit of political allegory going on in the fic.

The fic is definitely NOT a political story, though. It is really about Sakura and her growth to become a strong ninja. But at the same time I think there is a sense that Sakura's story is just part of a much greater, much deeper thing that is happening in the world. That's good because it grounds her story, gives her personal struggle a larger texture and context. I like that.

The story is pretty angsty in the first couple chapters, lol. Maybe I overdid it a little bit. It gets a lot better later on though, when Sakura starts her training arc and starts to grow stronger.

_**3. Vixkill **__over at TONFA: " i__ can't help but think you are writing for a very different story. the tone and themes seem out of place. it's like a... medieval fantasy theme? and more of a drama than action-adventure. (if that's the style you're going for as a 'real' writer, then you're going great!)_ _tsunade is 'the princess' instead of 'baa-chan' and more of a politician than a ninja. also, more of a bitch__… __and i'm so used to seeing occasional humour it's wierd reading a 'serious' story.__ A__lso, changing cannon of Dan and leaving out rain's civil war bugs me, but it's your story__." _

I'm not sure what you mean by the "medieval fantasy theme"? If you mean the story is more dark and not as funny as the canon NARUTO story, well, yes. That's kind of the point.

The story is quite 'serious' for a couple reasons. The first is it's supposed to be a more realistic take on a world of killer assassins. For example, in the canon Sakura never really pays for being weak, but in the first chapter of WOS she does—she gets somebody killed. That's a realistic consequence of making a mistake in combat, and I tried to treat that seriously.

Second, we see the story from Sakura's POV and Sakura is not a character that makes a lot of jokes or makes funny observations. She's not going to call Tsuande 'baa-chan' or anything like that. Especially at this point in her life Sakura is going to be angsty, confused, and moody. That's reflected in the writing style. But if I was writing from a Naruto POV, for example, the story would probably feel very different.

I did try to put some humor in it though (especially from some of the other characters like Ino, Lee and Gai). I will try to have more funny moments as the story goes on, the first couple chapters especially were super-angsty.

I did make some small changes to the canon surrounding Tsunade's backstory. Instead of dying in a forest during the Second Ninja War, Dan died in a cave during the Third Ninja War. More about Tsunade's past, especially what she did during all the years between the wars, will be revealed later. This backstory MAY NOT be totally consistent with the source material, but it'll be close enough. Trust me when I say that _everything important that happened before the start of WILL OF STONE is still the same as in the canon_.

And I'm glad you're looking forward to more fight scenes because there will be a lot of those going forward. I don't know about the "happier times" though :D


	7. Will of Fire

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER SEVEN: "Will of Fire"**

* * *

Sakura dreamed her way across the Fire Country.

They all dreamed, every person among the thousands who marched with the United Countries Embassy. Visions of glory danced across their mind, fantasies of honor, and peace, and vengeance. From dawn to dusk they marched to remake the world, and as they beheld their grand procession, the magnificent flapping flags and the great wagon trains and the godlike Hokage shining on her white horse, it seemed anything was possible.

Sakura shared their hopes, but for her the dream was more personal. She dreamed of becoming strong.

On the second day of the Embassy she went to see Team Gai. They were training in a clearing in the forests outside the camp the Embassy had made for the night. For a long moment Sakura stood back and watched Lee and Gai spar, transfixed. They were so fast, so confident. So unlike her.

At last Sakura walked into the clearing.

Lee stopped in the middle of a flying dropkick and almost tumbled to the ground when he saw her. He stood up straight, snapping his legs together like he was at attention. "Sakura-chan!" he called with a big happy joyful smile on his face. "I haven't seen you for so long!" Then he got a puzzled frown. "Hey, but why are you not wearing your forehead protector? Hokage-sama said we have to wear them on the Embassy at all times."

"Lee!" Tenten said. "You idiot!"

Lee was confused. "What do you mea—oh. Oh." The boy looked crestfallen.

Neji smirked. "Don't worry, Sakura. I'm sure Lee would be happy to give you his instead."

"Shut up, Neji!" Lee shouted. He wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Both of you stop it," Tenten said. She shook her head. "So, uh, Sakura, what brings you here?"

She didn't hesitate.

"I need help," Sakura said. "I need you to teach me how to open the Eight Chakra Gates."

Now they all stared at her. "That is a forbidden jutsu," Neji said. Lee looked uncomfortable.

Sakura looked down, fingering the kunai in her hands. "I know. I know the risks… but this the only way. The only way I can become a ninja again. The Hokage gave me one last chance. She said she would test me when the Embassy got to Iwa. I need to show her I'm strong. If I can open the Chakra Gates… but I can't learn it by myself. I don't have a sensei anymore, or teammates… if you help me, I'll owe you everything. I'll pay back that debt by any means required. I promise."

There was a short silence, and then suddenly a shout of excitement. It was Maito Gai. The green jumpsuit jounin laughed deeply. "I feel the fires of youth burning in your veins, Sakura! The sensation intoxicates me!" He pressed his hand on Sakura's shoulder, so hard she almost collapsed. He grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

"From now on," he said, "You will train with us!"

The Embassy traveled west and south, and then due north, following the path carved into the ground by the First Hokage a hundred years ago, making a circuit of the broad curve of the Fire Country. They passed through the Ash Valleys and the Shadowspring Forest, along the banks of the Jade River and into and out of cities the names of which Sakura had only read of in books. Kiushu. Shikoke. Hokuto. Onya. Others, more, an endless vastness, an overwhelming immensity. More than once, as the Embassy arrived at some new wonder, Sakura would ask herself, "_What is this place_?" as if it were somehow strange to her. But always she knew the answer. It was the place they served.

Tsunade-sensei had said that. "_We are the shinobi of the Leaf, girl, and with the people of this land of Fire we have made a sacred covenant. We use our power to protect and serve them, and in return they promise us what we need the most. A home._"

Sakura had asked her what the covenant was called, and when it was made, and who had made it.

"_This covenant has no maker, girl," _Tsunade-sensei had said. _"Neither is there an inauguration. But it has a name. It is called the Will of Fire_."

One of the purposes of the UC Embassy was as a show of strength in the aftermath of December 7th: to present the enduring power and resolution of Konoha to the world. Accordingly the Hokage had insisted the Embassy all dress in full military uniform for the duration of the whole mission, so that they all seemed very proper and gleaming as they marched. They moved along the road like the small army they were, altogether over eight hundred ninja strong, thousands including the rest, though far more deadly than any army of regular soldiers. As they trooped past in long, tight columns, taking up both sides of the road, incoming traffic would have to make room and get off the road to let them pass.

As the Embassy passed through a town the peasants and smallfolk would always gather along the side of the road to gawk at them, the finery and the pomp of it all. Barefoot children would point and shout with excitement—"Ninja!" they shouted. "Ninja"—and then the ninja would wave and smile and stand a little taller, and then give out candy and little trinkets and propaganda pamphlets to the people, on the directive of the Hokage, who had loaded the caravan with those items. Sometimes someone would come up to the caravan to speak to a ninja, requesting the services of Konoha and handing over a bag of money, and after a little bit a ninja or a team of ninjas would dart away from the convoy like wolves peeling away from the larger pack, rejoining later after they had chased down some prey.

Each of the rank and file ninja carried little with them, no more than a few things they carried in a sack on their back, and they marched the whole way on foot. But the jounin, the officers and the high-ranking ninja, rode on armored horses, and the civilian functionaries rode in the wagons. The long caravan rolled slowly along the central axis of the Embassy, carrying food and water, weapons and supplies. Above them, strapped to a pole rising out the center wagon, the crimson and green flag of the Fire Country and the blue flag with the five-pointed white star of the United Countries flapped in the wind, like a king and queen lording over their subjects.

They marched from dawn till dusk. At night, they made camp by the side of the road, or in a town, or wherever they had stopped, and large tents were pitched for the ninja that wanted it; many opted to sleep on the grass and the hard ground, unrolling sleeping bags and eating cold rations and making small talk beneath the stars. The Hokage's tent was the biggest of all. In the evenings a small stream of dignitaries from the surrounding towns would stream into the camp and make their way to the Hokage's tent. After all the visitors had left, light still flickered in that tent until very late, and the faint voices of the Hokage and her advisors could be heard, debating and arguing about the great events which were shaking the world. Then, as the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, the Embassy representatives got up and stretched their limbs and packed up their tents, to do it all over again the next day.

As they moved north, towards Ashwarren, the roads widened, became highways bustling with traffic, cattle and horses and people. The highway was flanked on one side by a nearby railroad, and often a train would chug past them, screaming as its wheels screamed along the railroad tracks. At the end of the fourth day the Embassy came to the vast volcanic mountain ranges which coiled like twining snakes across the northeast of Fire. The great peak of Mount Enasei loomed in the distance, gray and black. And just beyond the reach of the shadow of the mountain in the evening sun lay the city—the jewel in the shadow—Ashwarren.

Ashwarren, the capital city of the Fire Country.

Sakura saw the gleaming tops of the five towers of the city first, seeming to rise and grow above the horizon with each step they took forward. The sun was low in the sky, and the setting sun bathed the towers in red orange light. The five towers rose and rose, until they seemed to engulf the skyline, touching the clouds like grasping fingers, a gleaming steel hand reaching up to close its fist on the sky. The famous Five Towers of Ashwarren. The sight awed her. She had never been in any city larger than Konoha, itself a mere town by the standards of Ashwarren, the greatest city in the world.

As the caravan edged closer, Sakura saw that what looked like the back of the hand of the Five Towers was actually a huge, circular wall, separate from the towers and surrounding them. The wall was as high as those of Konoha and still blackened with fire. _A blast wall_, she realized. It had been built to protect the city population during the chaos of the Ninja Wars. Those walls could not hold the population now. An entire new city sprawled outwards from the inner one like a human fungus, smokestack factories and concrete tenements and shadowy slums, broad lanes lined with neon lights and glittering skyscrapers of glass and teeming steel, modern and daunting and everything that Konoha was not, could not be.

Yamanaka Ino thought she had gone to paradise. "Come on, Sakura. We're in Ashwarren! _A real city_! The shopping capital of the world! Think of the clothes… the shoes… you don't have to buy anything, if that's what you're thinking! It's called window shopping. But I can't go out all by myself. Come with me."

Sakura shook her head. "I need to—"

"Train?" Ino laughed. "Relax, we're not gonna get to Iwa for another month at least." Ino leaned forward to stare at Sakura's face. "Plus, look at those pores. You need some exfoliation."

Ino wouldn't shut up, so they went. Sakura hadn't packed anything except a set of servant and shinobi uniforms, not thinking of civilian clothing. So she wore the Konoha livery she had been wearing the whole Embassy. Ino wore a stylish blue spring dress, though she kept her forehead protector on as per the Hokage's orders. "Brings out the color of my eyes, don't you think?" she said. Sakura also brought Tonton along. The pig was happy to get out of the confines of the wagons and tents that Sakura had been keeping her in, squealing everywhere they went in Ashwarren.

The two girls took the underground subway, trains powered by steam that zipped around in a maze of tunnels under Ashwarren. Neither of them had been on it before, and they spent their time nose-pressed against windows, watching the dimly lit tunnel walls flash by. They wandered around the city for a while. They went shopping in gigantic colossus-like malls and went to eat at a high-end expensive restaurant on the roof of a skyscraper (Ino paid the bill). Then they went to a beauty parlor and got their faces exfoliated. Ino had her nails done too, but Sakura declined.

One incident occurred which much disturbed Sakura. They hadn't been in Ashwarren long when a cute young boy, about the same age as Kyoki, came up to them. "Are you a ninja?" he asked, staring at up Ino's Konoha forehead protector.

Ino smiled at the cute kid. "Yes."

The boy stared with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open like a fish. "Wow, so cool!" The boy's voice dropped down to a whisper. "Have you killed anyone?"

Ino leaned down to look the cute little boy in the face, very seriously. "You bet," she lied. "I've killed hundreds of people."

The boy giggled. "I want to be a ninja."

"Kaoru! Kaoru! Get away from them!" a woman yelled. "Get back here now!" The boy turned around, reluctantly, going back to her mother's arms. Her mother shooed him away from them. "Don't do that!" Sakura heard the mother whisper as they hurried away. "They're dangerous!" Sakura turned to look at Ino. Ino shrugged.

After that Sakura couldn't help noticing the way people would stare at the two of them as they walked, they way they would watch them with wary eyes and keep their respectful distance. There was a clear undercurrent of hostility and fear towards Konoha from the city residents. It had been like that the whole way, in fact, even with the smiling waving peasants, with the civilians outside Konoha itself. She just hadn't paid attention before. _They're afraid_, Sakura thought. Afraid of her. Afraid of her power and who she was.

Sakura almost forgot that now she, too, was a civilian.

"_This covenant has no maker, girl," _Tsunade-sensei had said. _"Neither is there an inauguration. But it has a name. It is called the Will of Fire_."

There was no covenant, Sakura thought. There was just a word, an ideal. This place, Ashwarren, was the place the shinobi of the Leaf served. The place they gave their lives to protect. But it was not their home. Ninja did not belong here. She didn't belong here. Everything was too different—too strange, too hostile, too _wrong_, somehow. She wasn't sure what it was until she realized that the people here were missing something. They were missing faith. A faith in their own country.

That night Sakura went back to the barracks where the Embassy was staying, and she didn't go out again until it was time for them to leave.

Meanwhile Sakura started her training with Team Gai.

The first morning of her training, they took her over to a small lake that lay hidden in the forests by the Embassy camp. The lake shimmered in the cloudless sunlight. Gai took off his sandals and walked barefoot onto the middle of the lake. His students followed, as did Sakura. Sakura felt the water underneath her feet, cool and smooth; the surface rippled as she walked on it.

Gai struck a pose and grinned. "Sakura, you seek to open the Eight Chakra Gates! Your youthful passion greatly moves me. I, Maito Gai the Sublime Green Beast of Konoha, will teach you all that you desire. That's a promise!"

"I promise too!" Lee said enthusiastically. "I will keep that promise with my life!"

"Oh, Lee!" Gai said. "You burn so brightly with the flames of youth!"

"I am only an insignificant candle compared to you, Gai-sensei!"

"Without a doubt," said Neji.

"Shut up, Neji!" Lee cried.

Gai laughed. He turned back to Sakura. "If you want to open the Chakra Gates, you must first master every chakra node and pore in your entire body! The higher level of mastery, the more gates you can open. Are you familiar with the basic principles of chakra control, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah."

Gai did not seem to notice what Sakura had said. "Chakra," he lectured right on, "is essential to even the most basic jutsu of the shinobi. In its latent form, it is the natural life energy that is inherent to all living organisms. In its active form, it is a mixture of the physical energy present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience! Once active, the chakra can be channeled through the Chakra Circulatory System to any of 361 tenketsu, or chakra pressure points, along the body. These tenketsu are nodes from which chakra can be released and manipulated. Within these tenketsu are Eight Gates which control the overall flow of chakra within the body, like valves or circuit breakers. Normally these Gates protect the body by only allowing a safe amount of chakra to flow to the tenketsu. But by opening these Gates, a shinobi can surpass their own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to their own bodies!"

"Ninja practice constantly to learn how to manipulate chakra more effectively in order to perform jutsu. However, most ninja don't have the skill to truly control the flow of chakra within the body itself. They have to use external methods such as hand seals to help them mold the chakra into the specific jutsu they want. Ultimate masters of chakra control, such as myself, hardly need to use hand seals at all!"

"You're so cool, Gai-sensei!" Lee said.

Gai gave Lee a thumbs up. "I can mold the chakra inside my body through each of the 361 tenketsu nodes themselves. Both the shape and nature manipulation of chakra arise directly from within the tenketsu. Therefore, what shinobi commonly call 'chakra control' is really this ability to control the flow of chakra through all the tenketsu in your Chakra Circulatory System. Only when you master this ability will you be able to open the Eight Gates. There are many methods of training chakra control, such as leaf concentration, tree climbing, and water surface walking. But today I, Maito Gai, will reveal to you the ultimate technique of chakra control!"

Gai finally paused, finished with his lecture. He was out of breath. "Do you understand everything I just said?" he asked. "Any questions?"

_I already knew all of that_, Sakura thought.

Neji was shaking his head. "Gai-sensei, Sakura is the student ofthe Fifth. She probably knows more about chakra theory than you do. You know the Walking With Water technique, Sakura?"

She nodded. "It's a chakra field projection jutsu. It's similar to water surface walking, but far more advanced, when the user projects a chakra field out of the whole body at once underwater. I've never seen it done before, though."

Gai's mouth dropped open. "Ah! You already know about walking with water?" He seemed a little deflated, but recovered quickly. "Well… knowing and seeing are different. Today the Handsome Beast of Konoha will show it in action! Behold!"

As he spoke Gai began to sink into the lake he was standing on. Sakura watched in amazement as his feet went under the surface, then his legs and chest. It was like going down a lift. The water wrapped around his body, rippling, but without touching him. Soon Gai's whole body disappeared beneath the clear water, and Maito Gai stared up at Sakura through the surface of the lake where he was suspended. He grinned.

Then Gai began to walk. Not swimming, walking—_walking with the water_, as if the water under him was a solid surface. Sakura understood the principle. He had extended a chakra projection field around himself which repelled the water and kept it from touching his skin, so that when he moved it was actually through a thin layer of air in-between, without the usual water resistance or physics. But the chakra control it would take to maintain the field, especially during motion, was insane.

"Lee!" Gai shouted. "I need a rock!"

"Right!" Lee said. Lee rushed to the banks of the lake where he picked up a huge rock and threw it into the water near Gai. There was a big splash. The rock plummeted in the water.

Gai suddenly rushed forward under the water, running, and raised his leg in a flying dropkick. "Dynamic Entry!" he shouted. He connected with the rock and it blew up into a thousand pieces. The pieces tumbled to the bottom of the lake. "Hahaa!" Gai then did a series of punches, kicks, and other taijutsu moves in the water, blindingly fast. He changed direction at seemingly impossible angles, moving forward, backward, sideways and up and down instantly. At last he did an immense roundhouse kick—"Konoha Leaf Whirlwind!" he shouted—and burst out of the water to stand before Sakura on the surface of the lake. There was no splash. Gai grinned.

"You're so cool, Gai-sensei!" Lee said.

"That was… incredible," Sakura said. Gai's body, hair, and clothes were all still dry. "Like you never even touched the water."

"I didn't," Gai said. "That's why I could move so fast."

_So this is what it takes to open the Gates_, Sakura thought. _This level of chakra control_!

Sakura turned to Rock Lee. "So you can walk with water, too?"

"Both Lee and I can walk with water," Neji said. "Of course, with the Byakugan I can do it almost instinctively. It took Lee years of constant training to learn. As for you, Sakura… you're a chakra control genius, right? Off the charts talented. I wonder how long it will take you."

Chakra control. Yes, she was good at chakra control. That was the only thing Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-sensei had ever praised her for. It was her special talent. Except for that one time she forgot about it on a mission and her comrade died.

_I got Beater killed because I didn't control my chakra. Because my control was weak. I have to make it strong… I have to show Tsunade-sensei…it won't happen again…_

"Go on, Sakura-chan!" Lee said. "Try it."

"Let the power of youth explode!" Gai added. Tenten cheered as well.

"Okay," Sakura said. "Here goes."

_Walking with water_. Sakura concentrated, gathered chakra around her feet and ankles. One step at a time… one sink at a time. It was a matter of… pushing against the water, in just the right amount and at the right angle, so as not to break the surface tension but still allow her to sink. There! She sunk a centimeter. Two centimeters. The water almost went up to her ankles.

"I'm doing it," she said, excited.

"That's really good. It took me a lot longer just to get there." Lee smiled. "You're a natural, Sakura-chan. Keep going!"

It was extremely hard. She needed the perfect balance just to maintain the chakra field. She tried to use her chakra to push the water outwards into a bubble around her feet. But if she pushed at the water too hard, made the bubble too large, the bubble would pop. _Try to keep going_. Another centimeter. Her feet were under the water. Her legs—

The bubble popped and she fell down with a splash and a shout, soaking herself in the cool water of the lake. Lee laughed and helped her up back onto the surface. "It's really hard!" Sakura said, pushing a strand of wet hair out of her face.

"It's okay, you just need to keep practicing," Lee said. "I'll practice with you!"

He did. During the daytime they marched together as the United Country Embassy wound its across the Fire Country, and at night they trained walking with water, in nearby rivers or lakes or in the pools in the military barracks in Ashwarren. Usually Team Gai would be there as well, or Ino and Chouji, or Tonton (apparently, not only could pigs swim but they liked it). But sometimes it was just the two of them, Sakura and Lee. Sakura made enough progress to immerse herself in the water fully, but every time she tried to move the chakra projection field would collapse. Lee, on the other hand, was an expert in walking with water, and liked to show off his Dynamic Entries and Konoha Leaf Whirlwinds.

It was a revelation to her that Lee had no talent for chakra control at all. He had a poor grasp of the basic theory and improved very slowly, maintaining his control by blind trial and error rather than true understanding. Once she asked Lee how he had learned walking with water, and he cheerfully told her that he had simply practiced it 100,000 times until he got it. "But I bet it'll only take you 10,000 times, Sakura-chan!" he said. "You're a genius!" His obliviousness was touching; and somehow she was very glad for his company.

_For all their company_. The news of Sakura's termination, her disgrace, had spread quickly through the Embassy from the first day. The Hokage's personal apprentice, banished, exiled to becoming a pig's caretaker, forced to grovel on her knees for a second chance. There were a few ninja, especially genin, who delighted in Sakura's misfortune. She had to endure their taunts and smirks. But she was surprised at how many friends stuck by her. Ino, Chouji, Tenten, and of course Lee. Even Neji was unfailingly helpful. "From now on," Gai-sama had said, "You will train with us!" Sakura felt greatly heartened by these responses. _They have faith in me_, she realized. _And I have faith in them_. Was this the true covenant? Was this the true Will of Fire?

Hundreds of kilometers from Konoha, she felt almost at home.

From Ashwarren the Embassy headed west, out of the Fire Country, then south. They followed the course of the Haven River that began along the north coast of the River Country and flowed down into Rain. River was a rich country, an immensely fertile river delta with a branching web of lakes and streams. Here there were immense ports, the main cities of River—Saitoi, Canaltown, Ishii Island, Far Harbor—bustling with ships and people, as well as Kawagakure, the country's hidden ninja village. Kawa was a town on stilts, built by a rocky shore across the first mouth of the Haven River itself, crisscrossed with canals and canoes and massive steel fishnets which hung from towering poles. The Embassy stayed for only a few hours in Kawa.

After the River Country came Waterfall. Waterfall was one of the smallest of the lesser countries, with only one major city, Miyawe. Due south of Miyawe the Embassy came to an immense waterfall pouring down from a mountain, a curtain of deafening sound: the legendary Torrentrage Falls. The Embassy wound their way up the mountain to the source of the waterfall. In that place, rising out of Torrentrage Falls itself like glistening spires of spider-spun ice, rose the famed structures of Takigakure. Here the Embassy stayed longer than any other place besides Ashwarren. It was rumored that the Hokage was old friends with the leader of Taki and that she hoped to convince Waterfall to join the UC. But the Embassy left Taki without any such announcement.

Day by day the Embassy moved south, through the rest of Waterfall, and then across the Grass Country. Those were slow, languid days; hours of reflection and silence, solitude and practice. Endless plains of flat rolling steppe prairie grass greeted them, waving in the breeze. The sun was a blinding halo in the distant sky, and the flat horizon was only broken here and there dotted by wisps of chimney smoke from scattered towns and cities: Rinan, Greensun, Ratai. One day, as they were traversing a river valley on the way to the hidden village of Kusa, a rumbling in the distance began, loud as a chain of constant thunderclaps, though they were no clouds in the sky. At first Sakura thought it was some sort of attack. But then she crested a high ridge, and below her she saw the source. A herd of wild horses stampeded below them. Their feet were louder than the heavens.

In Kusa the Embassy again left without convincing the village leader or the Grass daimyo to join the UC. Sakura had a general awareness that things were not going well for the Embassy and that the Hokage's agenda was in crisis. But it was different than before. She had not been within a hundred meters of the Hokage for weeks, despite being her supposed personal servant, and the political calculations that so consumed their time together before now seemed oddly distant from Sakura's personal concerns. All the girl focused on now was her training, her mission to prepare herself for the test ahead. She didn't really care about anything else.

Until they came to the place Sakura would never forget for the rest of her life.

Team Gai was walking near the front of the Embassy when they saw it. The horizon was black with storm clouds, endless pillars and pillars of them, darker than pitch. Streaks of lightning flashed everywhere. A feeling of deep unease ran through Sakura then, pimpled her skin and pierced her through to the bone. The whole sight was unnatural, perverted. No storm could possibly be that big, even a flash storm. And somehow she knew this was no flash storm. It was permanent. A word came suddenly to her mind, and the word was _death_.

"It's like hell on earth," Tenten said, eyes wide.

"I believe," Neji said, "that is the Rain Country."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER ****EIGHT****: "****The Village Hidden in the Rain****"**


	8. The Village Hidden in the Rain

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER EIGHT: "The Village Hidden in the Rain"**

* * *

The border between Grass and Rain was branded twice. From below, gray steel walls jutted up from the earth, man-built walls looming over the flat plains. Watchful grass-nin patrolled the fortifications. The walls seemed to be like nothing so much as some sort of giant cage, keeping their unknown captives locked behind it.

The second brand was not so obvious as the first. Sakura only noticed it when they had reached the border. Then she felt a drop of something wet on her cheek. Then more drops, falling from dark dew-laden clouds, a curtain of water that seeped deep into them, soaking and filling everything. From above, the heavens poured out their tears.

The UC Embassy winded its way through a maze of armed checkpoints; then, suddenly, they were in the Rain Country. The first thing which greeted their eyes was an empty ghost city. The ruins loomed eerily silent, broken rubble and twisted metal.

"What happened here?" Lee asked Gai.

Maito Gai did not smile. He hadn't smiled since they had left Kusagakure for the border. Sakura had only seen the green-jumpsuit, bowl-cut ninja so serious like this once before. That had been during the chuunin exam when Gaara crushed Rock Lee's legs.

"War," Gai said finally. "These are just buildings. You'll see the real ruins soon enough."

She did. There was only one major road through Rain that was not destroyed or in a war zone. On either side the road was dotted with refugee camps, slums of teeming squalor and violence. It was like a haunted land. They passed camp after camp of starving, half-naked, sickly people. Some refugees went up to the Embassy and begged variously for food, for medicine and protection. Others shrunk back, recoiling in fear, in imagined recognition. But most of the refugees just stared at the ninja with blank eyes. They had been driven from the homes by the civil war, driven north to the border with Grass. But the Grass Country had sealed off the border. Now there was no place for them to go except the camps.

_Akatsuki_, Sakura thought. Akatsuki did this. _This was the place where Akatsuki was born_. Fifteen years Akatsuki had originally first emerged here, as a terrorist insurgency in the Rain Country that sought to overthrow the daimyo of Rain, Lord Mukai Hanzou. Through a decades-long campaign of terror and fear that made December 7th seem like a walk in the park in comparison, Akatsuki had turned at least half the Rain Country into a lawless, war-torn wasteland. The civil war would have ended in Akatsuki's favor long ago were it not for the power of Hanzou, the legendary ninja who had ruled Rain with an iron fist since the Second Ninja War. And so the war went on—and on, and on. Now it had spread even outside the borders of Rain, to Sound, to Wind and Fire. That had been since Orochimaru took over Akatsuki seven years ago and transformed it into an organization not just for Rain rebels, but for all rebels and all missing-nin worldwide.

_The ultimate source of the December 7th attack on Konoha is the Rain Country. Even though it wasn't directly executed from here, the attack would never have been possible if Orochimaru hadn't been able to leverage the instability of Rain in order to create a terrorist haven. Rain is the epicenter, the headquarters, of Akatsuki. If our purpose is to destroy Akatsuki, the first place we have to destroy them is here. _

Sakura knew that the Hokage was desperate for Rain to join the United Countries. Moreover, having already failed with River, Waterfall, and Grass, the Embassy could not afford to leave the Rain Country empty handed. No doubt the Hokage had some sort of plan; but Sakura had no idea what it was. The Hokage hadn't even so much as looked at her since their confrontation three weeks ago.

Once the Hokage ordered that the Embassy stop at one of the largest refugee camps and unload aid packages to the people there. For a day Sakura herself worked in the hospital, a large tent where rain leaked through patches in the roof, trying to heal the sick and dying as best she could. There were thousands of them. Many of the refugees had horrible untreated wounds from the war, missing limbs or whole-body burns or deep kunai punctures. Others were dying from simple diseases that could be easily treated by antibiotics, except there were no antibiotics in the camp. Sakura tried to help them, but within a few hours she was utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally. The other medics also failed to persevere. Only Honjo Micho, the Konoha Chief of Surgery, was an inspiration. Micho was a whirlwind of strength and force. The old doctor attended to the refugees with the energy of ten younger men; that day he healed thousands without stopping at all. Watching him Sakura was moved to redouble her own efforts.

But Sakura was glad when the Hokage ordered that the Embassy leave the camps behind.

The Embassy continued along the road west and south. They called this place the Weeping Lands, for everywhere, it seemed, there was rain. The storm never ended. Here the flooded Haven River had become a sea, a black sloshing tide of mud and sewage and cold rainwater that stretched for kilometers in every direction. Sometimes the Embassy could wade across it in the shallow places, but more often they were forced to erect bridges and roads and ferries in order to cross. Horses died, whole wagon trains collapsed, but day by day they ground on.

At last the road reached a conclusion. Through the pouring rain they could make out the faint outlines of metal towers in the distance, dozens of them, near as high as the skyscrapers of Ashwarren. The metal city stood by itself on a high island hill, and the rain down ran from the city in curtains to the vast black sea which surrounded it.

The city had two names. The first name was old: the name it had when it was first built, decades ago, before the endless storms had come, by the idealists who had come to this place to found a glorious new republic. They had named the city Bliss. Now the city had another name.

Amegakure, the Village Hidden in the Rain.

The Embassy marched across a rusted drawbridge onto the island, then up the hill into Ame. Walls and masked sentries circled the city. The gates of the city opened into a maze-like fortress of metal. It was a technological wonder: thrusting skyscrapers and twisting alleys, tunnels and levels of bewildering steel. But the steel was rusted, decaying. And there were very few lights. It was both capital city and hidden ninja village, the greatest city in the middle west, but somehow it reminded Sakura of the refugee camps they had left.

The rain-nins were out in force to welcome the Embassy. Files of ninja in ceremonial dress, which in Rain consisted of straw hats and white robes and red umbrellas, lined up on either side of the main boulevard. Behind them thousands of young men beat drums and chanted ritually, filling the air with deep, shrieking rumbles that overwhelmed the otherwise constant patter of rain. It was an impressive ceremony.

There were crowds of villagers, too, who appeared to be kneeling on the ground and praying. At first Sakura thought the prayers were directed toward the Embassy, until she realized the villagers were facing in the wrong direction. They were facing forward.

The villagers looked forward to the end of the boulevard. There, on the highest point of the city, was a tower even larger and taller than the others, a gigantic black vertical spire that thrust against the endless storm clouds themselves. It was at the center of Ame.

"What's that?" Sakura asked.

"That," said Maito Gai," is the place from which Hanzou the Reaper rules over the Rain Country. He calls it the Asylum."

Now Sakura understood. The villagers were praying to Hanzou. She could just make out what they were saying. "_Hanzou_," they prayed. "_Oh Lord Hanzou, save us. Deliver us from evil. Save us. Oh Lord Hanzou, deliver us from evil…_"

The Embassy marched along the boulevard up the hill until they came to the Asylum. The prayers and the drums were even louder here. The black face of the tower loomed down over them. Finally, at the very top of the tower, there suddenly shined a blinding red light. The light grew brighter and brighter until it was like the sun itself.

The light spoke, and its voice was godlike.

"SENJU TSUNADE… THE QUEEN OF TORMENT…

"…WELCOME… TO BLISS…"

"It has been too long, Hanzou," the Hokage said.

"INDEED."

"I am here as a representative of the United Countries, the last, best hope for peace in our time. Will you join us, Hanzou?"

"COME… LET US TALK…"

Two rain-nins opened a door in the bottom of the tower of the Asylum. Inside the door Sakura could only make out darkness. But the Hokage walked in without hesitation. The rain-nin shut the door after her.

The red light at the top of the Asylum went out.

The prayers of the villagers of Rain crescendoed to their greatest height, a deafening orgy of ritual chanting. ""_Oh Lord Hanzou, save us. Deliver us from evil. Save us. Oh Lord Hanzou, deliver us from evil…_"Then all at once the ceremony was over. The rain-nin were silent and the drip-drip-drip beating of rain filled the city once again.

The Embassy dispersed. Some went to mingle with the crowds of villagers, while others went with their Ame guides to find their living quarters. Sakura was eager to go with them—she definitely needed a nap—but something was wrong with Maito Gai. Gai stared up at the Asylum and didn't move. He seemed to be locked in some sort of trance.

"Are you okay, Gai-sensei?" Lee asked. The boy frowned.

The man was slow to speak. "I'm fine, Lee. Just remembering… something…"

"What is that place?" Neji asked. "You said it was the Asylum. What does that mean?"

Gai hesitated. But at last when it looked like he was about to tell them a group of rain-nin approached.

There were four of them, three genin and a jounin sensei. The genin were dressed in some sort of armored black wetsuits. Their teacher wore only a straw hat and a thick reed cloak that rippled down to his boots, but he was taller than Gai by half and muscled like an elephant. In his hand the man clutched a thick bamboo staff studded on both ends with spear points.

"Maito Gai the Butcher Beast," the man said. "I did not think you would dare show your face in Bliss again."

Gai didn't smile at all. "Not happy to see me, Tosuken?"

"No," the man said. "I am very glad to see you. Because it means you will not leave this city alive."

"The Embassy is here under a diplomatic truce," Gai said.

"And so I did not assassinate you the moment you walked in… but that is only a technicality. If you have any honor at all, Butcher Beast… if there is any part of you that is not spineless… you will not run away. Not this time."

Lee couldn't hold back anymore. "What the hell are you talking about?" he shouted. "Who the hell are you?"

Now one of the Ame genin laughed. "He's Tosuken the Chameleon, the second strongest ninja in Rain, after my grandfather. And he's going to kill your sensei."

"Shut up!" Lee shouted, outraged.

"Mamoru wouldn't have wanted it to be like this," Gai said.

Tosuken slammed his staff into the ground. The concrete pavement exploded into webs of craters. "You dare speak his name!… you murdered Mamoru in cold blood… do you think that we would forget? Do you think that you could come back here and _ask us for our help_? Konoha destroyed this country…whole cities burned to the ground, the slaughter of thousands of children at an instant… only the power of Lord Hanzou keeps what remains of Rain from falling to the Akatsuki terrorists. I do not know what kind of deal the Queen of Torment thinks that she can make with Lord Hanzou. But we will never join your ridiculous United Countries. Not until Mamoru… and every other Rain ninja… is avenged! Maito Gai… I challenge you to a duel to the death!"

Lee yelled and started to rush forward to defend his teacher. But Gai pressed his hand against Lee's chest and pushed him back. "This has nothing to do with you. Be quiet!"

Gai turned back to look at Tosuken. For a while they just stared at each other. Sakura thought they would stare forever when somehow, for some reason, Gai grinned. It was the first time in days. He gave Tosuken a thumbs up. "I accept your challenge!" he said.

The rain ran down Tosuken's straw hat onto his face. "Then tomorrow you shall die."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER NINE: "Eye of the Storm"**

**Author's Note:** This is a response to Vainly Hopeful's review:

**_Vainly Hopeful:_**_ "First, I noticed how some city names were in English. For example, Bliss. It doesn't really make sense to me that they would all have Japanese names yet be able to pronounce the name, since I thought the Japanese didn't have any L's in their vocabulary? English names in the Naruto world kind of threw me off a bit, I guess."_

Very good point. Technically everything is supposed to be in Japanese, including names, thoughts, and dialogue, because that's the language of the setting. Realistically I don't know Japanese and the story is written in English. So how should the reader interpret this?

The best way to think about WILL OF STONE is as a "translation" of the original language into English. So most of the story is in translated English, but some Japanese is still lying around here and there. You'll notice that jutsu names are usually not translated, nor person names. This is to maintain immersive effect (i.e. I could translate "Sakura" as "Cherry Blossom," but that would be really weird).

Place names can go either way, sometimes for the same place (i.e. "Konohagakure" vs. "the Village Hidden in the Leaves"). Whenever you read an English place name (i.e "Bliss), you should interpret it as a translation of the Japanese equivalent ("Kofuku"). The reason I use the English version in the story is because it adds a deeper meaning which would otherwise be impossible. "Bliss" is a ironic and tragic name for a truly hellish city; "Kofuku" is meaningless to anyone who doesn't know Japanese.**  
**


	9. Eye of the Storm

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER NINE: "Eye of the Storm"**

* * *

Past midnight Rock Lee found her in the ruins of a collapsed metal tower on the outskirts of Bliss.

The tower had fallen a long time ago, but a part of the steel walls still stood, and here the rainwater collected, making a large pool tens of meters deep. It was an unlit place, forgotten and lonely. It was hard to see what it had been before. Maybe a school, or a library. Faded copies of books still floated in the cold water. Sakura thought it was a good place to train.

"Sakura-chan!" Lee said, dropping down alongside her, onto the surface of the water. "I found you!"

"Hey, Lee," she said.

The boy smiled. It was hard to see him in the darkness, but she thought he looked a little nervous. "Do you know how I found you?" he asked.

She shook her head. "How?"

"Don't you remember, Sakura-chan? I will always appear when you are in trouble."

Lee had last said that line to her during the Konoha chuunin exam, when she was about to killed by Orochimaru's sound-nin flunkies and he had saved her life. The second time wasn't quite as romantic.

"I'm not really in any danger right now, Lee," she said.

"It is true your body is not in danger… but your heart is troubled." Lee grinned. "That is most dangerous."

Sakura had to laugh. "Yeah, okay. I guess you got me. I couldn't sleep tonight." She paused. "What happened between Gai-sama and those Rain ninja yesterday… this place, Lee. It doesn't feel right. I'm really worried about Gai-sama's fight with that ninja Tosuken. I tried to talk to Gai-sama, but he wouldn't listen. Then I wanted to go speak to the Hokage, but she wasn't available… I feel like… I can't do anything to stop him…" She trailed off. "All I can do is train."

She thought Lee would say something like, _Don't worry about Gai-sensei! Gai-sensei is the greatest! _but instead the boy was silent. After a pause he spoke.

"You're right, Sakura-chan!" he said, very seriously. "The best cure for a troubled heart is hard work."

There was nothing really for them to say after that. Instead the two of them trained.

Sakura was still working on Walking With Water. Now she sunk herself beneath the surface of the pool in the ruined tower for the hundredth time that night. For the training she wore only a simple white kimono, drenched by the rain and failed walking with water attempts. But as she submerged herself in the water she used her chakra to push the water back into a bubble that wrapped around her body, so that the kimono still clung flat to her skin. When she breathed the air blew from her lips into the bubble, rose in tiny ripples across the curves of her face to the top of her head. There they broke through the bubble and popped on the surface of the pool. The chakra projection field was complete.

But it was taking all her concentration just to keep up this one field. To maintain the chakra projection field she had to constantly eject chakra at just the right levels from all the tenketsu over her body. It wasn't much chakra, since all she was pushing back was water… but the problem was one mistake and the whole field would collapse. In motion maintaining the field was exponentially more difficult.

Could she move? Very slowly she tried to push her hand forward. The water gave way, the bubble held. The other hand. Then her feet… one over the other… yes! She started to walk, ever so slowly, walk with the water… she was doing it.

"Beautiful movement, Sakura-chan!" Lee called from above the pool.

Sakura smiled, but just as she did so she pushed her chakra field a little too far and the bubble collapsed. Water rushed in, and all of a sudden she was swimming. Sinking. Her kimono billowed in the water. "Fuck!" she said, and that all came out of her mouth was a stream of bubbles.

"You almost have it, Sakura-chan!" Lee shouted from above in encouragement. "Hold on, let me show you!"

Lee dove beneath the pool with practiced ease, using his chakra field to push against the water and speed over to where she was. The boy took Sakura's hands in his own. "Now remake the field," he said.

Lee's chakra field extended over to encompass her, slowly rippling along her hands, up her arms and then over the rest of her body. Sakura helped him as best she could, and then when she had recovered her balance she concentrated and recreated her body's own field, taking it back from Lee. But now, with Lee still holding her hands, the two chakra projection fields touched and flowed into each other, mutually reinforcing. It was one chakra bubble that extended around the two of them in the water, a rippling pocket of air in a dark wet sea. It was like their own private universe. Like the eye of the storm.

Lee smiled. "Move with me," he said.

He took a step backwards, and Sakura followed. Two steps. Three. His hands were calloused, rough with constant training, but the touch was gentle. It was easy for Sakura to let him guide her. Lee would strengthen Sakura's chakra field whenever she made a mistake. Soon they were moving faster and faster. Lee led her in loops and twists and turns, back and forth.

Sakura giggled. "It's like we're dancing."

Lee giggled too. "Rock Lee, the Handsome Green Flash of Konoha, will show you dances you have never imagined before!"

As they slow-danced in the water Sakura began to notice how the chakra field Lee was projecting was different from hers. It was stronger, of course, more dynamic, but there was a more essential distinction. She hadn't noticed it until they had begun moving together. What was different was the _rotation_. Sakura and Lee basically ejected chakra out of their tenketsu in the same pattern, but the chakra Sakura ejected didn't rotate much, while Lee's chakra spun aggressively, rotating in thousands of tiny circular loops along the edge of his field.

"The way you're spinning your chakra in circles. How are you doing that?" Sakura asked Lee.

"Um, just like I told you before. Feel the chakra field. Like, really feel it. And then, uh, follow the chakra back inside you. But it has to be all the way inside. Then, uh, move it. Do you understand? Sorry, I am not good at explaining these things." He made an apologetic face.

The explanation had been nonsensical before, but now Sakura thought she had a glimmer of understanding—it matched with the jutsu theory that Neji had described to her at the beginning. _Feel the chakra field… follow the chakra back inside you… _Sakura tried to imagine the chakra as an extension of herself. No, it _was_ herself. And herself, then, was also the network of tenketsu and chakra vessels through which the chakra flowed. Now she saw that it was the rotation of the chakra, not just the quantity or power, which was keeping the water back. The rotation multiplied the field's repulsive force and made the field more stable. But where was the rotation coming from? From the tenketsu? No …_all the way inside_… from the Chakra Gates! The Gates were like the master control centers of the Chakra Circulatory System. Not only did the Gates limit the flow of chakra, they also shaped its spin and direction. She had to move them—move the Gates… just slightly, just enough, to change the chakra's rotation… and the rotation would have to be different for each part of the body…

Suddenly everything clicked. One very long moment of intense concentration... and suddenly Sakura had mastered Walking With Water!

Sakura's chakra field rippled outward with strength, matching Lee's field motion for motion. "Whoa!" Lee said. "You really got it this time!"

"Dance with me," Sakura said.

They danced. Truly danced, not like before, when Lee had been leading her at every step. Then it was like she had been in a wheelchair. Of course Lee was still far more skilled, far more practiced. But now she had legs too, just the same as him.

The combined chakra field became taut around their bodies, so tight the water rippled and wrinkled along their bare skin. Then the water turned aside at their command, parting as if air, and the surfaces they moved on were sometimes flat, sometimes twisting and turning and making loops, at the whim which they choose. Under the dark pool of rainwater, in the ruined tower, it was like everything else had disappeared; and there was only the two of them. There was only the chakra field. There was only the dance.

In the darkness they could barely see, but they could feel each other by touch, both physical and spiritual. At first Lee led, then after Sakura gained confidence she started to lead, drawing him into a whirlwind of living motion, the dance called the Will of Fire, the traditional thanksgiving ritual of Konoha. But it in the water it was another thing; magical, miraculous. Lee's hands were twined against Sakura's own, then around Sakura's waist, and once he picked Sakura up and threw her up in the water, so that she came down a spinning whirlpool and he caught her in her arms. "You look like an angel," Lee had time to whisper, and Sakura laughed. Far into the night they danced. They danced until they were breathless and they had to pop up for an instant to the surface to collect air, before going under the water again.

At last, dead tired to the bone, drained of chakra, Sakura and Lee crawled out of the pool onto a rusted metal shelf that ran into the center of the tower base. Sakura fell backwards onto the floor of the shelf, lying there exhausted. "That was… that was great…" she managed.

"Yes. Walking With Water. You did it in three weeks. You really are a genius, Sakura-chan." Lee shook his head. "And also a very good dancer. Even better than Gai-sensei!"

"Thanks," Sakura said.

The two of them lay there for a while, not saying anything. Cold drops of rain fell continuously onto Sakura's face. She closed her eyes and let them fall. Then a thought occurred to her.

"Can I ask you something?" Sakura said. "Your chakra control is so good… why can't you use ninjutsu? I don't understand."

Lee sat up to look at her. "Well, I can, sort of. At least there's nothing wrong with my body. I'm just… too dumb." He poked his head. "Just too stupid to learn how to use ninjutsu, I guess. You know… it was hard… for a long time. In the ninja academy everyone always made fun of me. But then I found Gai-sensei. Now I don't care. I'm going to prove to the whole world I can be a strong ninja without ninjutsu! With just my arms and legs!"

Again they lapsed into silence. Long minutes passed. This time it was Lee who broke the quiet of the falling rain.

"Oh! I almost forgot. I made a gift for you. Here, look…"

Sakura half-cringed, remembering that Lee's last gift to her had been a jar of insects. But this time Lee slipped his hand into his ninja bag and pulled out a strange-looking kunai.

The kunai looked like it was made of layers of folded glass, brilliant mirrors within mirrors of white crystal. In the darkness it glowed radiant, a pure white light. _Beautiful_, Sakura thought. Carefully Lee put the kunai into Sakura's hands.

It was hot to the touch, and a sense of power, of life, pulsed from its every surface.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, enchanted.

"It's chakra!" Lee said. "All of it is pure chakra." He grinned. "See? It's called a chakra-cast kunai. I made it from my own chakra. Neji helped, too. Um, there's like a theory behind it and stuff, but basically I used chakra field projection to push my chakra out and made it hard and shaped it into a kunai. It is very difficult, I spent a month making it! Anyway Neji says it is way faster and sharper and stronger than a regular kunai. You can use it during the chuunin exam!"

Lee paused. "Um, well, do you like it?" He wringed his hands nervously. "It's, uh, better than the jar of fireflies I gave you before, at least? I really tried this time you know! I tried not to make it 'totally disgust—"

"Lee!" Sakura interrupted. "Rock Lee… listen to me… I love it!"

"You do?"

She nodded her head. "Really, I do. You are the #1 most romantic ninja!"

The boy stared at her, eyes wide. For a moment he was stunned speechless. Then he giggled. "Haha! Yes, I am!"

"You are," Sakura said. "Thank you, Lee."

Lee's eyes were bright in the darkness. "For you, Sakura-chan… anything. Even my life."

Sakura stared at the boy. He was so… so _pure_, Sakura thought. So innocent. So unlike Sasuke. Even when they had first met, when she had told him that he was gross, and he had sworn to protect her with his life. He would, Sakura was sure. No matter what happened, no matter what changed. Because Rock Lee loved her. He would never forget.

"I know," she said.

Lee reached his hands over to grasp her own, hand holding hand, with the chakra-cast kunai shining between. Then he moved in close. Their gazes locked. Sakura stared into Lee's eyes, and there she saw all the desire, the pain and the longing. She tried to see her own reflection, but she could not. Slowly the boy bent down his head.

His lips almost touched to hers—

"OH YEAH! Let the passion of youth explode!" a booming voice suddenly shouted. At the same time there was a bang and a large cloud of white smoke appeared beside them.

The smoke dissipated, revealing a man wearing a ridiculous green jumpsuit standing on top of a large turtle.

Maito Gai made a pose. "Well, go on, you two, make out already! The tension is unbearable!"

Sakura's mouth fell open.

"Gai-sensei! What are you doing here?" Lee shouted, spluttering. His face was beet red with embarrassment. "Shouldn't you be preparing for your _duel to the death_ or something?"

Maito Gai grinned. "Pah, don't worry. I'm gonna kick Tosuken's ass!"

"You were spying on us!" Sakura said.

"I was keeping an eye on you." He wagged his finger. "Ha! You guys are such the epitome of adolescence." The leaf jounin looked up at the night sky, sighing, and tears actually flowed down his eyes. "It brings back such precious memories of youth…"

"Go away, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted. "Please!"

"I ought to punch you in the face for that remark," Gai declared. "You're lucky that I, too, have known what it means to be in love in my glorious youth. Haha!"

Lee sagged to the floor, utterly deflated. "I was about to kiss Sakura-chan…" he mumbled.

"Buck up, Lee. If you're not going to be a man, then you'll just to follow me. Watch Gai-sensei in action! Yeah! It's finally time!"

"Time for what?" Sakura asked.

"Why, time for my fight against Tosuken, of course!" Gai pointed high in the distance. Across the steel towers of Ame, one tower loomed over the rest, breaking against the never-ending storm. But even through the thick layer of storm clouds a faint light shone through, a glimpse of the blinding heaven beyond.

The spire at the top of the Asylum flashed gold in the rising sun.

It was dawn.

"Come on, you two lovebirds. Let's go! Youth never waits!"

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER TEN: "Asylum, Part One"**

**Author's Note: **My response to some reviews:

_**1.** **Koko7180**: "well... i'm completely shocked, i don't know what to say... it's interesting how she couldn't think about what lee told her about the chakra field... Moreover...sakura kissingg lee? isn't she still in love with sasuke? i've never read a sakulee fic before, butt i have to give this fic a try, just because i love how you portray each character..."_

It's not really that she couldn't understand what Lee said, it's more like Lee is stupid and his explanation didn't make any sense, lol.

Well, Sakura didn't kiss Lee. Lee was trying to kiss Sakura and I guess she was maybe going to let him, before Gai interrupted. I think she's probably still in love with Sasuke but it's been like five months and Lee was really being nice to her, so... I mean they're teenagers... but the fic isn't going to be Saku/Lee. Lee really isn't Sakura's type, lol. He's too nice of a guy. I think Sakura is more into the bad boy kind of person...

I am glad you like the Sakura and Lee portrayals. I put quite a bit of time into making them feel right, Sakura especially. I want Sakura to be smart and tough, but at the same time vulnerable. That vulnerability is what makes her interesting IMO.

_**2. Xorncon - Number 0**: "Kunai made of chakra...kunoichi with excellent chakra control...I wonder if that can be used somehow? Anywho, cute chapter, and now I can't wait for Gai's battle to the death! And I love how he just interrupted Lee's perhaps only moment with Sakura. Well done sir lol"_

Yeah, Sakura's going to use the chakra-cast kunai a lot. I'm planning to focus on chakra control and chakra-based abilities (i.e. chakra-enhanced strength, genjutsu, the eight gates) for this story. I think that's a neglected/underexplored aspect of the NARUTO universe, rather than just uberjutsu X 20.

Gai and Tosuken really will battle next chapter, lol. It's been a while since there was some action... prepare for the shit hitting the fan...


	10. Asylum, Part One

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TEN: "Asylum, Part One"**

* * *

In the dawn Maito Gai ran towards the Asylum for his duel to the death.

Gai was back to his usual self; he seemed to be entirely recovered from whatever had been making him depressed in the Rain Country before. This despite the fact that he was about to fight one of the most dangerous ninja in the world to the death. He ran through empty streets toward the Asylum, pumping his fist about "burning with the flames of youth" and how "youth never waits!" Lee and Sakura could barely keep up with him.

Neji and Tenten met them at the gates of the Asylum. Sakura noticed the blood vessels around Neji's eyes were already pulsing with chakra. He had activated his Byakugan. Sakura gripped the chakra-cast kunai more tightly and rested a hand on her shuriken pouch. Somehow she was glad she had brought her ninja gear along with her.

There were rain-nin waiting for them at the base of the Asylum. When they saw Gai they pulled open the sliding doors which led into the bottom of the black metal tower. The five of them went in, and the rain-nin closed the doors after them.

Vertical columns of dim electric lights washed over the inside of the Asylum. The Asylum was a giant hollowed out shell; Sakura could stare all the way up from the base to the roof of the spire at the very top. In the roof there was carved a golden symbol, the four parallel lines of Amegakure laid within a larger pictogram, an eye shaped into a snake eating its own tail. Sakura recognized it as the personal standard of Hanzou the Reaper.

The hollow of the Asylum tower was crisscrossed by various platforms, walkways, and what seemed like giant metal tanks and tubes and bundles of electric cables. A staircase spiraled along the edge of the tower, and in one wall there was also an elevator. The Leaf ninja walked toward the elevator now, on a raised walkway above large pools of water. In the water there were—

"My god, look," Tenten whispered. "_Look_."

In the water there were hundreds of insane people.

They appeared to be catatonic, because they didn't move. They hung half-sunk into the pools, suspended by cables, or knelt motionless on metal platforms in the water, their limbs and heads dangling limply. Feeding tubes ran into their stomachs. Their eyes and mouths stared forward, open and empty and blank. The insane people were naked, but here and there richly-livered Rain Priests threaded their way among them, attending to them, speaking to them in muttered prayers, or sprinkling them with holy water, or cleaning their defecation. The priests were old men. The insane were men, women, and children.

"Are they dead?" Lee whispered.

Sakura shook her head. "No. They're soulless…"

"What is this place?" Neji asked. "What is the Asylum?" Even he seemed shaken by the ghastly spectacle. For once Sakura was glad she could not see with his eyes.

Maito Gai's voice was soft, and serious again, but this time he told them.

"The Asylum is the place where Hanzou the Reaper keeps the insane victims of those whose souls he has sacrificed to the Death God. In return for these sacrifices, the Death God has granted him… a terrible, forbidden power!"

Sakura knew. "Shiki Fuujin," she said. _Death Demon Consuming Seal_. The forbidden jutsu that summoned the Death God to harvest your enemy's soul, at the cost of your own…

Gai nodded.

Now they entered the elevator and took it up. The elevator rose clanking, slowly toward the top of the Asylum. Now Sakura could see what were in the suspended metal tanks: more pools of water, more victims, naked and insane and soulless. Thousands of them. Maybe tens of thousands. The horror was almost beyond comprehension.

Gai continued. "Shiki Fuujin is the forbidden power which the Third Hokage tried to use to seal Orochimaru's soul, the power which the Fourth Hokage used to seal the Kyuubi, and the power from which the Torment genjutsu of the Fifth was originally developed. It is the power of Shinigami, the God of Death! This power is absolutely forbidden because any who uses it must sacrifice their soul in return—that is the fate of all who make deals with the Death God. But Hanzou… he found a loophole! Instead of sacrificing his own soul… Hanzou created a jutsu to transfer the sacrifice to someone else! Sacrifice someone else's soul. In exchange for immortality and the ability to use Shiki Fuujin, Hanzou gives to the Shinigami a constant supply of fresh souls… thousands and thousands of them…

"However, Hanzou's soul transfer jutsu has a weakness! In order to keep the souls of his human sacrifices sealed within the Shinigami, the bodies of the sacrifices must remain alive in the physical world. If they die, the souls are released, and Hanzou will no longer be able to command the Death God's favor! This is the reason Hanzou built the Asylum. Here Hanzou holds and protects the thousands of human sacrifices which are the source of his power. As long as the Asylum stands, Hanzou is invincible! In Ame Hanzou is worshipped as a god… but to those who hate him, to those who have flocked to the banner of Akatsuki… he is the devil himself. And to his enemies this place, the Asylum, is hell on earth!"

As Gai finished his story the elevator had already reached the top of the Asylum. It opened out onto a short staircase which led to the roof, a slick black metal plane without railings or walls. The wind wiped at them violently, and below them the dark towers and spires of Amegakure shot out like arrows driven into the ground. Sakura took a deep breath, and let the cold rain fell on her face.

Tosuken the Chameleon and his three students were waiting for them.

Gai and his Leaf students lined up on the side of the roof opposite from the rain-nin. In between the two groups was nothing but the flat metal ground and the rain.

Tosuken spoke. "So you came. I half-thought you would run away again… like the coward you are…"

Maito Gai flashed a grin. "I never ran."

"Stop lying!" Lee shouted. "Gai-sensei is the greatest, bravest ninja in the whole world! You're the ones who sacrifice innocent people to the Shinigami to get power! You're the weak ones! You're the cowards!"

The Ame genin who had laughed before—he was the grandson of Hanzou, Sakura realized—grinned with malice. "Close your mouth, faggot, it is unseemly to perform blowjobs on your sensei in public."

"What—…" Lee sputtered.

The genin continued. "We're not cowards, and we don't sacrifice innocents. Every single one of the people you saw in the Asylum willingly volunteered to give their lives in order to protect their country. They are heroes of Rain. Martyrs."

"Martyrs?" Neji asked. "Or fools?"

"Save your breath, Aumono," Tosuken said. "They don't understand. How could they? Pampered leaf-nin children… they could not know what it is like to live in our world… what war truly is…"

"Too much talk," one of the other Rain genin said. The girl. "Not enough blood."

Maito Gai laughed. "So the flames of youth still burn in your students, Tosuken! Doesn't the sensation intoxicate you? But no… you're an old man now. What happened to you? Where's your youth? Eh, Tosuken?"

"_Don't talk to me about youth_!" Tosuken screamed. "You dare… in the very place you murdered Mamoru… to use that word! Prepare yourself, Butcher Beast…"

Tosuken stepped forward, throwing back his reed cape and brandishing his bamboo staff. He took off his straw hat and tossed it to Aumono, leaving his head bare and dead.

A chilling thought had occurred to Sakura then, but it was Neji who voiced it. "Gai-sensei, I must object to this duel. Tosuken the Chameleon is the former student of Hanzou. If Hanzou uses Shiki Fuujin…it is likely that your opponent can also use that jutsu."

"No, boy," Tosuken said. "That would be too easy. I will break Maito Gai's neck with my bare hands."

So saying Tosuken threw his staff in the air like a javelin. It plunged with shattering violence into the ground halfway between the two groups.

Gai nodded. "Enough talk! Let's get on with it!"

Suddenly the two ninja leapt forward at each other!

Their speed was incredible, far too fast for Sakura to even follow with her eyes. It was as if one moment they were standing still and the next they had met halfway on the roof, where the staff was jammed. Gai punched. Tosuken caught the punch with one hand. There was a tremendous noise upon impact, like a thunderclap. A shockwave exploded outwards from the force of the punch, exploding through the rain and shaking the very air. The watching young ninja had to bring their arms in front of their faces to shield themselves from the blast. _What incredible strength! _Sakura thought.

"Pathetic," Tosuken said.

"I'm just getting warmed up, old man," Gai said.

"Go kick his ass, Gai-sensei!" Lee called.

"Konoha Leaf Whirlwind!" Gai shouted. He spun into a blindingly fast series of roundhouse kicks. Again Sakura could not even see the attack, or Tosuken's counter. But the impacts of their punches and kicks shook the Asylum roof itself. Tenten was actually forced back a few steps by the force of the shockwaves.

"They're moving so fast…" Sakura said.

"Gai-sensei already opened five Gates," Neji said. He could see into the dueling ninjas' chakra circulatory system with the Byakugan. "Tosuken opened six."

_Already opened five gates_! Sakura hadn't even noticed; there was no visible sign they were using them. The fight had just begun and it had already escalated to that extreme! This battle was deadly serious. _At that level even one good strike could be fatal…_

Suddenly Tosuken was gone. One moment he was there, dodging Gai's uppercut, and the next he had vanished.

Neji was shocked. "Tosuken… he just disappeared! I can't see him…"

Gai stood alone in the middle of the roof, looking back and forth. He seemed confused.

"The Chameleon…" Sakura whispered. _Damn, he can even hide himself from the Byakugan! _

Aumono laughed. "Yes, the Chameleon. The master of stealth and assassination jutsu. Your Butcher Beast is dead… 3… 2… 1… now!"

BOOM!

"ANGUISH STRIKE!"

There was a flash above Gai, and from nowhere Tosuken punched Gai in the face! Gai went down, slammed into the roof. The supersonic punch went off with the force of a great bomb, an explosion of not only power and sound but also deadly fear. Sakura, Lee, Tenten, and one of the rain genin were knocked off their feet. The Anguish Strike was so powerful it made a large crater in the metal roof around Gai's body.

Maito Gai lay in this crater. For a second he looked dead. Then he started to laugh.

Gai got up to his feet slowly. A steaming red chakra surrounded him, like a protective shell, hot and burning. Fire Chakra Armor, Sakura realized. Where rain touched the chakra armor it turned into hissing steam. Gai spat blood from his mouth, and there was a nasty bruise across half his face. But the leaf jounin seemed to be in a great mood.

"That was… _youthful_…" he said, grinning.

Tosuken stood on the edge of the crater, shaking out the hand he had punched Gai with. "Warmed up yet? You almost broke my hand, asshole."

"Haha! It's my turn now!"

Gai charged forward, the Fire Chakra Armor burning around him.

Tosuken disappeared.

"That won't work this time!" Gai shouted. He spun around—so fast it was like he was teleporting—

"SUPER DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

Gai kicked a space in the air. A massive impact, and an earsplitting crack like the sound of a mountain splitting in two! Tosuken appeared in the shockwave of the impact. Gai's kick connected brutally with the rain jounin's jaw, sending Tosuken flying upward in the air.

At the same moment one of the skyscrapers next to the Asylum blew up.

"Wow!" Lee shouted. "Such awesome power, Gai-sensei! You destroyed an entire building with your Super Dynamic Entry!"

"Uh… I didn't do that," Gai said.

Tosuken collapsed in a heap on the roof hard, grunting in pain. But almost right away he stumbled up back on his feet. "Shit!" Tosuken said. He didn't look at Gai but at the exploding skyscraper.

Another skyscraper exploded, this time on the opposite side of the city as the first tower. And even closer to the Asylum.

"What's happening?" Lee shouted.

"Damn," Gai said. "It's Akatsuki."

"_Traitors_…" Aumono hissed.

Sakura rushed over to the edge of the roof of the Asylum to look down. The twisted remains of the destroyed skyscrapers lay strewn on the ground, obscured by clouds of smoke and dust. But she could just make out a stream of ninja running out from the ruins

of the skyscrapers. The enemy ninja were wearing the black and red cloak of Akatsuki. At the same time a string of smaller explosions were going off everywhere around the city, every sector and strategic point. It was a coordinated, planned attack. The sounds of violent fighting were already going on in the streets.

"I don't understand," Neji said. "Why is Akatsuki attacking now? With the UC Embassy in Ame the city is too well defended for a frontal assault."

"You are misinformed, boy," Tosuken said. "At this moment, neither Lord Hanzou nor the Queen of Torment is in Bliss. A few hours ago they launched a surprise attack on the main Akatsuki base in the Rain Country with a large percentage of our total military strength."

"Spineless terrorists!" Aumono said. "They're trying to counterattack…"

"The Asylum," Sakura said. "They're going for the Asylum."

That was the clear implication of the Akatsuki attack strategy. Farther out, in the lower city, a small number of Akatsuki ninja were occupying strategic points to try to hold off reinforcements from the rest of Ame, while the main Akatsuki assault force came out from the two blown up towers near the Asylum. The terrorists were heading directly for their present location.

"Then rain will wash away traitor blood," the girl rain-nin said.

"Shit! The sky!" the third rain genin shouted. "Look!"

Sakura looked up. Ninja were dropping out of the storm clouds above the Asylum.

They plummeted down headfirst, like a formation of hawks in dive, impossibly fast, making for the roof of the Asylum. No ordinary ninja could come down out of the sky like that and survive. _They have to be jounin, or stronger… _

Maito Gai jumped up and punched the first Akatsuki ninja to arrive in the face. Still in midair the Akatsuki ninja was blown off the roof with the force of Gai's punch, screaming. It was a long fall.

"Tosuken!" Gai shouted. "We have a bigger problem right now!"

Tosuken nodded. "So it seems... I'll have to break your neck later…"

Now Tosuken picked his bamboo staff back up and spun it. "Bamboo Hurricane!" he cried. The staff suddenly extended out twenty meters in length. He thrust it up and impaled another of the plummeting Akatsuki terrorists through the chest. Then he swung the long staff like a bat, crushing yet another ninja in its arc and slamming them far off the Asylum roof. The Akatsuki screamed horribly.

A fourth terrorist was extremely unfortunate to pick a landing spot in between Tosuken and Gai. Tosuken and Gai's punches both connected at the same time, squashing the man's head between them like an overripe peach.

But now the ninja who came were stronger, and they were able to dodge or counter Gai and Tosuken's attacks. "Suiton: Bakusui Shouha!" one of them shouted while still in the air. _Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave_! A giant blast of black water poured out of his mouth, flooding the entire roof. The defenders were blown off their feet, carried away in the immense current. Sakura barely managed to cling to the bottom of the roof as she thrust her chakra-cast kunai into it.

"Sakura-chan!" Lee shouted, his voice faded in the water.

"Damn!" Sakura shouted back. "We got to get out of here!"

Out of the blue Gai was there, a rocket in the water. Gai picked both of them up under his arms as he ran. Neji was carrying Tenten at Gai's side. "Get down into the Asylum!" Gai said. "These Akatsuki ninja are too dangerous!"

As he was speaking some sort of arm segmented by black tentacles shot out at them. Gai had to throw Sakura and Lee away in order to block the attack. More tentacles, a web of them, rushed at Gai. "Maito Gai the Green Beast, so we meet again! Do you remember my name?" a voice laughed in the murky depths of the water. "It's Kakuzu!"

"Go, go!" Gai shouted.

They went. Finally now the water from the Suiton jutsu drained off the sides of the roof, and they could see properly. The four of them ran as fast as they could toward the stairs in the center of the roof which led down into the Asylum. Unfortunately, Akatsuki was also trying to get to the same location. One of the terrorists was already there, blocking their way through the stairs. "Kaiten!" Neji shouted, going into a superfast spinning rotation of chakra. The terrorist fell back before the Kaiten, and the way was open for a single moment.

Then Tosuken was there, appearing in a flash from thin air. The three rain genin appeared next to him, also protected by the camouflage jutsu. Tosuken whirled his staff, keeping the Akatsuki at bay. The opening was sustained.

"Aumono!" Tosuken said. "We have a greater enemy now! Fight together with the leaf-nin."

"I understand, Tosuken-sensei," the rain-nin said.

"Then this is your mission! Protect the Asylum at all costs!"

The six young ninja, plus Sakura, dove down through the stairs, away from the pouring rain.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER ELEVEN: "Asylum, Part Two"**

**Author's Note**: My response to Kurtulmak's review:

_**Kurtulmak**__: "__Pretty sure that Shiki Fuujin leaves a soulless body non-viable, based on what happened to Orochimaru's arms. Still a bizarre and interesting take on why Hanzou was such a feared fighter.__"_

Hanzou's soul transfer jutsu isn't really Shiki Fuujin but in fact a complete inversion of it. The difference is you use Shiki Fuujin to kill someone by sealing their soul, whereas Hanzou transfers someone else's soul into the Shinigami in order to save his own life after he uses the power of the Death God. You could say that the souls of the martyr aren't really "sealed" in the Shinigami, but only temporarily "transferred" there under certain conditions (the physical body must remain alive, the opposite of what would happen under Shiki Fuujin). The upshot is Hanzou himself can use Shiki Fuujin repeatedly, as long as each time he "sacrifices" another of his martyrs.

Similarly (and this will be explained in more detail later on), Tsunade's Torment genjutsu is so powerful because she is able to "transfer" the experience of being sealed inside the Death God into the mind of a living person. There is almost no person who can withstand that experience without going insane. The victim's souls aren't sealed, and their bodies don't die, but like Hanzou's martyrs they have been temporarily "sacrificed" to the Death God. So Tsunade can also use Torment repeatedly.


	11. Asylum, Part Two

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: "Asylum, Part Two"**

* * *

"_Protect the Asylum at all costs!" _

The voice of Tosuken echoed after them as they fled into the depths of the Asylum. There were other sounds as well: first screaming, faint, through the tower walls. The sound of ninja killing each other outside. And second Sakura heard a sound coming from inside the Asylum.

It was prayer. Rows of Rain Priests kneeled on the spiraling rings of metal platforms and walkways, their hands clasped before them, begging their god to protect them in their time of need. "_Oh Lord Hanzou_," the Rain Priests prayed. "_Oh Lord Hanzou, save us. Deliver us from evil_…_ Save us. Oh Lord Hanzou, deliver us from evil…_"

The soulless insane human sacrifices of Hanzou's death jutsu lay motionless and naked atop dark pools of water, paying no heed to all the activity around them.

Ninja joined around them as they leaped down the shaft of the Asylum from platform to platform. There were many defenders in the Asylum itself, including multiple teams of ANBU from both Rain and Konoha. Hanzou and the Fifth were no fools. They had not left the Asylum unprotected.

"Lord Aumono!" one of the Rain ANBU said, bowing down to him. "The walls are soon to be breached!"

"And the roof as well," Aumono said. "Tosuken-sensei and Konoha's Butcher Beast are holding them back… though I don't know for how long."

"But there are layers of seals and traps on those walls that protect the Asylum from all attacks!" the other boy rain genin said. "No enemy should be able to get through!"

"Not this time," the ANBU said.

"Why?" the genin asked.

"_Traitors_," Aumono answered. "Spies, in the inner circle of Amegakure leadership itself. Only someone in that position could have organized this attack. The Asylum seals will not stop them." He grinned, and his eyes were dark and cold. "Let us make sure they are welcomed appropriately."

The ANBU nodded. "We shall, my lord." Now the ANBU regarded the three Leaf genin, plus Sakura. "So these are the Butcher Beast's prize students… and Tsunade's little pet, too."

"The Demonslayer's child," another of the Rain ANBU hissed. "It is blasphemy for her to enter this sacred place. None of them should be here."

Aumono laughed. "That's for me to determine, lieutenant, not you. I happen to think the Hyuuga and the Haruno girl will be quite useful." Aumono turned to the Leaf genin. "Now, do you all understand the mission? I am especially referring to the mentally disabled ape in the green jumpsuit."

"Stop insulting me, damnit!" Lee said. "Protect the Asylum! I understand!"

"Idiot," Neji said. "Akatsuki is attacking the Asylum for one reason only. They want to kill as many of Hanzou's human sacrifices… martyrs, if you prefer… as possible. The more martyrs they kill, the weaker Hanzou becomes. Our mission is to protect the martyrs. Since the martyrs are spread all throughout the Asylum, the defending forces will have to spread out as well. Each team of defenders will be responsible for protecting one specific sector of the Asylum. Get it?"

"Oh," Lee said.

"We'll go to the main pool on the ground floor," Aumono said. "It should be more… exciting."

The seven of them jumped and dropped down to the base level of the Asylum. Here the main pool stretched across most of the level. On various raised, interconnected platforms above the pool there kneeled hundreds of martyrs. Many teams of Ame and Konoha ANBU were already in place, ready to defend the martyrs. But there were clearly holes in the defense—a consequence of being undermanned from the attack Hanzou was leading on the Akatsuki base. The genin took a spot in one of these holes.

At last they exchanged names, and Sakura learned the names of the three rain genin. The leader was Mukai Aumono, the only grandson of Lord Hanzou, tall and handsome. The other boy genin was Junichiro Tenshe, a short, almost pudgy frog-like boy with splotches on his face. The disturbingly bloodthirsty girl genin was Kyoroku Erima. Erima cradled a long, black knife that seemed to cast no shadow; occasionally she would lick the tip of the knife as if in a caress. _The #1 elite genin team in Ame_, Sakura thought. _And the #1 elite Konoha genin team. And me. A fine company. _

The seven of them waited, but not for long.

The Akatsuki attack was extremely well-organized. Now the sounds of fighting outside were not faint but loud, deafening. Only minutes had passed and already the terrorists had made it to the Asylum gates. Sakura brandished the chakra-cast kunai in one hand, and reached her other hand into her shuriken pouch. Again, as before, as on the last mission she had been on, Sakura felt a tense warm heat run through her—the heat of chakra rushing through her chakra circulatory system. Again it was because she was anticipating a coming battle with Akatsuki. Again it was the hunger and it was the fear.

_Damnit… can I… can I be strong this time?_ _Is this… is this part of the test, Tsunade-sensei? Is this my second chance?_

_Is this what I wanted?_

"Akatsuki has the gates," Neji said. He could see through the Asylum walls with the Byakugan. "Thirty seconds to breach."

CRRREEEKKKK!

One of the walls of the Asylum shook madly, rippling and cracking even though it was made of five-meter thick steel. A giant vertical gash was hacked into one side, from the base upwards to at least three stories high.

Lee was crouched next to her. "Sakura-chan!" he whispered. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," she said.

CRRREEEKKKK!

Another gash was cut into the wall, a vertical line parallel to the first. The Akatsuki outside were trying to cut open a hole, a door, into the Asylum.

"Don't worry!" Lee said, smiling. "I'll protect you!"

CRRREEEKKKK!

A third gash was cut into the wall, horizontal to the first two lines, so that the wall was now cut apart on all three sides. The door was complete. Now Akatsuki only had to open it. All the defending ninja prepared themselves for the onslaught. For a moment there was complete silence in the Asylum, except for one sound. One prayer.

The prayer of the Rain Priests had reached their greatest fury. "—_Oh Lord Hanzou, save us! Deliver us from evil! Save us! Oh—_"

BOOM!

The wall fell forward, a giant slab of metal that was blasted into the Asylum.

A dozen destructive jutsu exploded at once from both sides!

"Suiton: Bakusui Shouha!" _Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!_

"Suiton: Suiryuudan!" _Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!_

"Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri!" _Water Release: Rising Water Slicer!_

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" _Water Release: Violent Water Wave! _

"Katon: Ryuuka!" _Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique__! _

"Katon: Goukakyuu!" _Fire Release: Great Fireball! _

"Doton: Ganban Kyuu!" _Earth Release: Bedrock Coffin! _

"Doton: Doryuusou!" _Earth Release: Rising Stone Spears! _

"Fuuton: Shinkuuha!" _Wind Release: Vacuum Wave! _

"Fuuton: Juuha Shou!" _Wind Release: Beast Wave Palm! _

"Raiton: Jibashi!" _Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder! _

The jutsu collided halfway in the middle of the doorway, a giant roiling furnace of nightmarish elemental destruction, steam and storm and quake and lava and thunder! Blinding, indescribable power! But both sides were evenly matched. The jutsu neutralized each other.

Into the breach rushed Akatsuki.

"Kill them all!" Aumono roared to the defending ninja.

From their perches within the maze of walkways and platforms and tanks and tubes, the defenders threw a furious hail of weaponry—senbon needles, kunai, shuriken, spears and arrows—to meet the Akatsuki attack. Most of the first wave of Akatsuki was ripped apart by the assault, falling where they lay in horrible disfigurement. But more rushed in immediately, dodging the weaponry now that they had seen the location of the defenders.

"Bakujoro Senbon!" the Akatsuki shouted. _Exploding Needle Shower!_ Spinning bamboo tubes were launched into the air, into the defenders' midst, and from the tubes thousands of long, thin senbon needles burst out in all directions.

It wasn't hard for Sakura to take cover, but that wasn't the point of the attack. The defenders could dodge the needles, but they couldn't stop all of them. Many of them hit the human sacrifices, the martyrs, who of course couldn't dodge. When the martyrs were hit, even if they were just grazed by a senbon, they collapsed immediately, falling to the floor dead. _Poison_! Sakura realized. The senbon were poisoned.

"Everyone cover a side!" Aumono yelled. "Don't let the senbon through!"

Sakura threw shuriken as best she could. The Akatsuki needle tubes were everywhere, hundreds of them, and needles shot through the air like sand in a sandstorm. By her side Tenten was throwing kunai at a blistering rate. Lee used his taijutsu speed to parry the senbon with his arms and legs. Aumono, Tenshe, and Erima used senbon themselves, throwing dozens of them and then controlling the senbon via barely visible chakra strings, weaving an impenetrable curtain of razor needles. Neji used Gentle Fist taijutsu and at the same time threw kunai enhanced with his chakra in opposite directions. With perfect accuracy the chakra-flow kunai hit the needle tubes closest to them and exploded, destroying the tubes.

Somehow the seven of them managed to stop the blizzard of needles from hitting any more martyrs.

"Bakujoro Senbon!" the Akatsuki shouted again. A second wave of needles! But this time there was something much more dangerous about the needles. They were wrapped in explosive tags! Wherever the senbon touched anything they exploded. Explosions ricocheted around the Asylum, causing chaos and havoc among the defenders. Platforms and walkways were blown in half and started to fall down through the hollow of the Asylum. From the level above a broken walkway swung down upon them with an earsplitting screeching of metal on metal, sparks flying.

"Shit!" Lee cried.

"Sakura!" Neji said.

"Right!" she said. She flashed through the seals and pressed her hands to the platform. The jutsu would take a lot of chakra here, with so much water around, but there was no choice. "Doton: Doryuuheki!" _Earth Release:__Earth Wall! _It was one of the jutsu Tsunade-sensei had taught her to practice her earth elemental affinity. A wall of earth erupted from the metal, covering and protecting the martyrs on the platform she was on. The walkway crashed down, breaking on the wall of earth. Senbon needles with explosive tags slammed into the wall and exploded, but the wall held, barely. Sakura tried to reinforce the wall with more chakra.

"Four Akatsuki from behind!" Neji shouted.

They turned just as three ninja leap up from behind them.

Standing in place, Erima silently reached out and flicked the strange black knife in her hand. Somehow, the shadow of the knife fell on the throat of the Akatsuki ninja in the center, even though he was far out of reach, and a bright red slit appeared there. The Akatsuki fell, blood gushing out.

Lee leaped up to meet another ninja, the one on the left. "For all those who died on December 7th!" Lee shouted. He attacked in a blur of taijutsu.

Tenshe met the third ninja from the side, throwing a web of poison needles of his own.

But immediately behind the first three Akatsuki leapt a fourth ninja. "Bakujoro Senbon!" the ninja screamed. This time the bamboo needle tube shot out directly above them. The needle tube spun, sending out a blizzard of poisoned senbon at point blank range.

"Kaiten!" Neji said, going into a massive blue-white chakra spin that protected them from the needles. But he couldn't deflect the ones not headed in his direction. Multiple martyrs were hit directly by the poison needles; the senbon embedded in their flesh. And the other senbon—

"Explosive tags!" Tenten yelled. All the senbon had explosive tags on them.

"Goddamnit, run!" Aumono yelled.

They ran. Sakura and Tenten leapt one way, the others other ways. The martyrs that had been hit by needles exploded. The platform they were on broke up and sank into the water in a hiss of steam. In the confusion and the smoke the six genin, plus Sakura, were separated. Sakura and Tenten jumped onto the platform next to the one that had sunk. The martyrs on this platform were still alive. It was up to the two of them to protect them now. The two girls moved to opposite ends of the platform, watching carefully for any sign of attack.

"This is bad," Tenten said. "I can't even see anything."

"Neither can the enemy," Sakura said. _But the enemy doesn't need to see us, do they? _That was a bad disadvantage for the defenders.

The Asylum was all in darkness. The power had been cut, and the hole the Akatsuki had entered through had somehow been sealed up, too; Sakura guessed to prevent reinforcements from coming. Though whether it was rain-nin or Akatsuki reinforcements she couldn't say. Now only the faint light of fires or momentary explosions allowed them to see. If any attack came they would have to listen for the sound in order to detect it in time. The noise of battle was all around her, above and to the sides. Sakura strained her ears to their limit.

A sound! There! Through the smoke Akatsuki ninja attacked!

One leapt at Tenten, and Tenten threw ranged weapons at him, but he blocked them in midair and took Tenten in the chest with a kick. Sakura made to help her but another ninja attacked her simultaneously. Sakura blocked the ninja's kunai with her own chakra-cast kunai. The super sharp edge of the chakra kunai bit into the metal kunai deeply, catching it. Sakura immediately brought her other kunai up for a counterthrust, but the Akatsuki blocked her thrust with his own kunai. For a moment they struggled as their weapons locked on each other. But the Akatsuki's strength was greater than her own, and he forced her down on one knee. Behind her she heard Tenten scream in pain. _Damn_!

"Sakura-chan!" the voice of Lee called from somewhere near her.

"Here!" she shouted.

An explosion occurred above them, a flash of light, and for an instant Sakura stared into the Akatsuki ninja's face. He was a young man. On his forehead he wore a metal forehead protector etched with four parallel lines, the symbol of Rain, except with an additional horizontal line slashed through it. A Rain missing-nin. An expression of utter hatred was twisted in his baby blue eyes. "Go to hell, you damn fascists!" he spat.

"Binding," she whispered. For a split second the genjutsu worked again, freezing the Akatsuki's muscles. Sakura attacked with all the force she had, whipping around her chakra-cast kunai to stab the ninja in the throat. But the ninja reacted too fast, breaking the genjutsu, flipping backwards and kicking brutally Sakura in the stomach. Sakura, off-balance, went flying down hard to the metal platform, the breath knocked out of her. She cried out in pain.

The Akatsuki stabbed down with his kunai at Sakura's head. There was no way Sakura could dodge or block it, but somehow Sakura managed by pure instinct to throw her own chakra-cast kunai at the ninja's face. She didn't think it would work but it was extremely fast—twice as fast as an ordinary kunai—and the ninja had to dodge the kunai, interrupting his otherwise fatal thrust. The kunai whistled upwards into the smoky darkness. Sakura rolled to the side, avoiding the ninja's next kunai attack, and jumped back up to her feet.

"Stay away from Sakura-chan, terrorist!" a voice shouted from behind her. Rock Lee entered the fight with a flying dropkick. "Dynamic Entry!" His weights were off and from his speed he looked like he had opened at least one Chakra Gate.

The Akatsuki blocked Lee's kick. He threw his kunai at Lee, who dodged and immediately engaged again. But the attack gave the Akatsuki an opening to pull senbon out of his robe. He started to throw them at an incredible rate. Even as the two of them fought hand to hand he was throwing senbon. None of them hit Lee, but the ninja wasn't aiming for Lee. _Fuck!_ Sakura noticed.

"Lee!" Sakura said. "He's killing the martyrs with the senbon!"

"Fascist fools!" the Akatsuki cried. "You can't stop the New Dawn! We will destroy this place of abomination!"

Sakura ran in front of the martyrs, whipping out her kunai and shuriken to try to intercept the needles. But it was too hard to see in the darkness. Some senbon shot past her and stabbed into the martyrs behind. The martyrs died, poisoned, collapsing to the floor. There were now only about five left. _Damn! This is bad! _

Sakura didn't want to use this jutsu, because it took so much chakra, but it looked like she had to. She flashed through the hand seals. "Tsuchi Bunshin!" she shouted. _Mud clone! _Three clones created from her chakra, shaped with the element of earth, sprung up around her. She hoped three would be enough. She didn't control the clones directly, they weren't her, but they could act with the intentions she had upon using the jutsu. One of the clones leapt in front of the remaining living martyrs, just in time to block another wave of senbon. A dozen needles pierced and stuck in her clone body. The bunshin turned back into mud upon taking such damage, but it had served its purpose.

Meanwhile she and her two other clones attacked the Akatsuki ninja with Lee.

The ninja reacted quickly, making a series of hand seals. "Suiton: Suikoudan!" the ninja shouted. _Water Element: Water Shark Missile!_ A huge spear of water shaped like a shark shot out at them with explosive force.

Sakura and Lee dodged to either side of the Water Shark Missile, while one of Sakura's mud clones blocked it directly in order to keep the martyrs unharmed. The bunshin was blown into mud with the force of the Suikoudan, but the attack dissipated.

"My turn!" Lee shouted. "Konoha Leaf Whirlwind!" He spun into a roundhouse kick that the Akatsuki was forced to fall back before. Meanwhile Sakura's clone came around from the other side to attack as well. The Akatsuki ninja swung a fist and blew a hole in the mud bunshin's stomach, but for a moment his fist was stuck in the mud and that give Lee an opportunity to get up over him and crush his head in. Unfortunately the ninja's head turned into water.

"Shit! A water bunshin!" Lee shouted.

Sakura had suspected something like that might happen, when the ninja had used the Suikoudan jutsu. He had blocked their vision and used the opportunity to switch his body with a bunshin. Anticipating this Sakura had already run back to the central platform. Now she saw that now the Rain missing-nin was jumping out of the water on the opposite side. Gathering chakra to her feet Sakura leapt, the power jump carrying her over the heads of the martyrs to the other side, and attacked the missing-nin. She thought the Akatsuki would throw senbon to block, but instead her kunai just smashed into the Akatsuki ninja's face. _Shit! That wasn't supposed to happen…_

The Akatsuki ninja dissolved into water. _Another bunshin! _

The real ninja finally emerged in a third location—meters away on the forward bank of the platform, out of the surrounding pool. He threw a hail of needles at the martyrs. Lured to opposite sides of the platform, on the wrong bank, neither Sakura nor Lee was in a position to block them. "For the New Dawn!" the Rain missing-nin cried out.

The five or so kneeling martyrs still alive on the platform fell to the senbon needles, like bowling pins, row by row. In the blink of an eye there was only one martyr still alive on the platform. She had survived because she was shorter than the rest, and had been protected by the height of the martyrs around her. A girl, a little girl. The girl was kneeling with her hands on her knees as if in prostration. She was completely motionless. There was another explosion above them, and for the first time Sakura saw her clearly. The little girl's face was twisted into a grotesque expression of hell. Her mouth was gaping wide open, as if she was screaming, but no sound came out.

The Akatsuki ninja threw a single needle at the martyr to kill her.

Out of nowhere, in the darkness and the shadows of the Asylum, a man stepped out. It was one of the Rain Priests. Sakura had no idea where he had come from. He stepped between the poisoned needle and the girl martyr. The needle pierced him through the stomach and stuck there.

"Lord Hanzou… save us… deliver us…" the priest whispered as he sunk to the floor.

"You brainwashed cult fascists!" the Akatsuki ninja screamed. "We're trying to release these people from their torment, why do you prevent it? If you must die with them then do so! Damn you!"

He threw more senbon, a storm of them, enraged.

Suddenly Neji was there, jumping down in front of the martyr from a higher level above. With the Gentle Fist taijutsu style he easily parried every one of the senbon.

At the same time Mukai Aumono emerged from the water behind the ninja. He pointed his fingertips at the Akatsuki, and thrust them forward slightly. "Karitoru," he said. _Reap. _

Instantly the ninja was split in two at the chest. It was an invisible cutting attack—like a knife through butter—that went straight through the ninja's flesh. The Akatsuki just had time to gurgle a gasp, which was full of red liquid. Then the top half of his body, the chest and head, slid down into the water, bobbing, and the bottom half followed. Blood stained the pool.

"We saved one martyr," Neji said.

Aumono laughed. "And we killed five traitors."

Now the other genin arrived at the platform, together. Erima, Tenshe, Tenten. They were all alive. No, something was wrong. Tenshe was carrying an unconscious Tenten in his arms.

"Tenten!" Lee shouted.

Sakura and Lee rushed over to her. Tenshe laid Tenten's body on the floor. Sakura saw that a senbon had grazed Tenten's neck, leaving a slight red line of blood. _Poisoned, damn it! _

"Is she alive?" Lee cried.

"For now," Sakura said. She moved her hands over Tenten's body, using the Shousen medical jutsu to feel its condition with the chakra released from her hands. Tenten wasn't dead yet—a ninja body could resist poison longer than a normal person—but she would be soon. Muscle paralysis had already set in. "What kind of poison is this?" she asked Tenshe. "You must know."

"It's a neurotoxin distilled from the Kokaeo tree of Rain," said Tenshe. "It attacks the muscle nerves… it'll stop her heart…"

Damn! It was impossible to extract the poison; it had already moved in, already attached itself to the nerve cells, like a wave of ink staining over paper. There was a known antidote for the Kokaeo neurotoxin, but she didn't have nearly the skill to synthesize it on the spot. Somehow she had to fix up some sort of equivalent… _think, Sakura! If the poison attacks the nervous system… _yes, that was it! She could use the chakra circulatory system as a workaround instead. It was like the opposite of the Binding genjutsu, using the same principle to stimulate instead of freeze the muscles. She could supercharge Tenten's chakra circulatory system, which was mostly unaffected by the poison, and use it to temporarily stimulate Tenten's vital organs. The procedure would require a surgical bypass to connect them to the chakra circulatory system. She concentrated, and a chakra scalpel formed in her hand. She worked as quickly as she could. There… yes, done…

"I stabilized her," Sakura said. Lee, who had been very tense, seemed to relax. Sakura gave him a smile. But she was very tired. She slumped to the floor, breathing hard. The heal had taken most of her remaining chakra. Only a couple minutes had passed since the battle had begun, but it felt like forever.

Elsewhere, the defenders in the Asylum seemed to be holding their ground and driving the Akatsuki back. It was still so dark she couldn't really tell. At least no one was attacking them.

"What's happening?" Sakura asked Neji.

"Battle's dying down," Neji said. "The ground level is secure, though there's still some fighting on the higher levels. I don't know what's happening outside."

"The strongest Akatsuki are still—" Aumono said.

SHHHKKKREEEEETTTTTT!

The roof of the Asylum blew up.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER TWELVE: "Asylum, Part Three" **


	12. Asylum, Part Three

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWELVE: "Asylum, Part Three"**

* * *

The roof of the Asylum blew up.

The roof exploded, shattering into a thousand pieces. Through the massive hole the light of the dawn spilled into the tower; and something else as well.

Rain fell down into the Asylum.

Four black-and-red robed Akatsuki dropped down with the rain, onto a large platform almost directly in the central nexus of the Asylum. All eyes turned to look at them, all the ninja in the tower, and the fighting stopped for a single moment. There was silence.

Standing in the center of the team of newly arrived Akatsuki was a small, slight-looking man, barely taller than Sakura herself, but somehow clearly the leader. His face was covered completely in scarred, burned skin, dead and black. It was horrifying to look at.

The man spoke. "Look at you cowards… hiding behind this pathetic shell of a tower… sacrificing these helpless innocents to protect you. An abomination… a blasphemy! But this dawn the Lord Pain has spoken. The innocents… shall… be freed! The Asylum… shall… BURN!"

The rain lit on fire.

"Fuck!" Aumono screamed. "It's Mizuho! The demon fire!"

The whole Asylum was suddenly flooded in a hellish light. The light of burning water! The rain was on fire. Every drop, a blazing flame. Where the rain touched a person, it burned through them, on Akatsuki and rain-nin and leaf-nin and martyrs alike, everyone. The martyrs died mutely, but the living victims of Mizuho screamed. They rolled on the ground desperately, trying to stamp out the fire, but there was no escape. The fire consumed them to the bone! Horrible! Screaming, shrieking everywhere! Sakura could only stare as a torrent of burning rain fell on her from the sky—

"Kaiten!" Neji shouted at the last moment. A whirlwind of concentrated chakra burst from his body, holding back the burning rain from hitting the genin. But Neji could only keep up such an intense spin for a few seconds.

"Get away! Run!" Aumono shouted. "That's demon fire, it burns on water itself, it'll burn through anything!"

Sakura ran. She grabbed Tenten's unconscious body to her chest and leapt into the main pool of water under her. She meant to escape the burning rain by staying under the surface of the pool. But Mizuho was even more horrible than she imagined.

The fire burned under the water.

The rain of fire splashed against the surface of the pool, lighting the surface on fire. But it did not stop there. The Mizuho fire continued to spread underneath, consuming the water itself as if it were like fuel. Then the fire was _in _the water. The main pool was large, dozens of meters deep and more wide, filled with cold dark water. Sakura tried to swim downwards, towards the bottom of the pool, but the fire chased her down. _Combustion requires oxygen_, she thought._ The fire should weaken the further away it gets away from the air._ But the demon fire only seemed to get stronger the more water it devoured. Huge billows and flames of red-orange fire danced through the pool. Other ninja diving down into the water, expecting to find there refuge from the Mizuho, but were instead utterly engulfed by the fire. They screamed horribly as they were burned to nothing. Floating corpses of martyrs met the same fate. There was no escape. Soon the Mizuho would consume all the water in the pool.

_I have to use Walking With Water_! Sakura thought. _That's my only chance!_ If Mizuho burned in the water, then if she could push back the water, the fire would be held back too. She wedged herself into one of the bottom corners of the pool and tried to concentrate, form the chakra projection field she had just learned a few hours ago. Tenten, she remembered. The field would have to include her. It would have to be larger, then. Not just like a cloak but a spherical bubble, extended outwards from her body. As she was considering this a wall of Mizuho fire rushed toward her like some monster unleashed from hell. The light of the flames was absolutely blinding. She closed her eyes but the light went right through the eyelids to burn her retina. _Fuck! Forget the fire, Sakura! Concentrate!_ She clutched Tenten's unconscious body close to her chest. She tried to visualize her chakra circulatory system and her tenketsu like before. Blast enough chakra from the tenketsu—use the Gates to rotate the chakra—_push the water back_—

Sakura made the chakra projection field just in time. The Mizuho waterfire was stopped bare centimeters from her body. Everywhere an ocean of fire surrounded her, so bright she had to cover her face with her arms in order not to go blind. The heat was immense, and she could fell her skin start to blister. _Damn_! _Too close. _She concentrated, releasing even more chakra from her body to move the waterfire back a few more centimeters. It wasn't easy. The water pressure was greater at the bottom of the pool, and it felt like all the weight of the water was pressing down on her little chakra bubble. Sakura didn't have much chakra left from all the jutsu she had used before, and at the rate she was blasting it out now the bubble would only last a few more minutes. She could only hope someone would come and rescue her and Tenten before then. _Or just kill that little scarred Akatsuki bastard. Fucking Mizuho…_she had heard whispers of the bloodline before. The infamous bloodline power of the Misain clan of Rain. _Demon fire… _

With her eyes closed, all she for warning was the sound. The faint, faint sound of a whistle through the water.

She opened her eyes to see a long poisoned needle come shooting through the waterfire. _Fuck! _ Its speed was greatly slowed down by her own chakra projection field, but Sakura couldn't really move very well with all her chakra being used to hold back the water. Still she managed to dodge it.

The dozen needles that followed were another matter.

Sakura had no time to react to the surprise attack except by pure instinct. Clutching Tenten she tried to escape upwards in the water, but the senbon seemed to come from all directions at once. One senbon came directly for her face. The thin white kimono she was wearing, not changed from her training during the night before, afforded her no protection to block the senbon. Sakura brought her free left forearm up to protect her face instead. The senbon shot through the forearm with the force of a hammer, puncturing through the bone, shattering it. Blood spurted out over her face. "Ahhhhhh!" Sakura screamed. The pain was hideous! She reeled in the water. Another needle slammed through her thigh, and yet another into her lower abdomen, right through a kidney. Three needles. Three poisons.

"Ahhhhhh!" Sakura cried again. She felt the poison immediately, a numbness that spread through her body, taking away the pain but worse than it, because it meant death. _Fuck… no… my muscles…can't move…_ At the same moment her chakra projection field wavered and began to collapse. She had lost concentration. The Mizuho waterfire rushed in! The fire lapped at her through the failing chakra field, burning her skin. Sakura screamed again. It was far worse than the senbon wounds, the most painful thing she had ever felt in her life, not like ordinary fire at all, like being boiled alive. The burning! Desperately, by pure desperation to escape the pain, she somehow forced her tenketsu open again and blasted out chakra to get rid of the waterfire. The pain lingered, black burned scars that ran across large swaths of her skin. "Ahhhhhh!" she screamed.

But the pain was only momentary, because now she was blacking out. The poison from the senbon was shutting down her nervous system… as soon as she went unconscious her chakra projection field would collapse and she would be burned away by Mizuho. She was dead. _Damn… no… it can't end like this… _she thought numbly. For some reason she remembered the Hokage. The Hokage had given her a second chance to become a ninja. _Tsunade-sensei… you said you were going to test my strength… I guess… I failed…_

A body brushed against Sakura's face. Tenten. She had forgotten about her. The other girl was badly burned, and a senbon needle stuck up out of her shoulder. She floated limply in the chakra field, like she was sleeping. The sight of Tenten woke something within Sakura's fading consciousness. _No! Tenten… I can't die now… I have to save her!…there has to be a way—to save—her—make up—FOR WHAT I DID—_

And there was.

On the edge of death Sakura reached deep, deep inside herself, and by sheer willpower did the only thing that she could.

Sakura opened the First Chakra Gate.

Then she opened the Second Chakra Gate.

It was like turning a damn switch. It wasn't hard at all, once you knew how. Once you found the switch. It was finding it that was hard. But she had found it when she learned Walking With Water. She had found it and now she used the forbidden jutsu, the kinjutsu that released the protective limits on her own body, because she couldn't fail again!

A tidal wave of chakra flooded through Sakura. She felt completely alive! The heat, the energy, the power. The poison seemed to fade away in her consciousness. It was still there, of course, but temporarily overpowered by the overwhelming surge of chakra from the open two Gates. All her senses were incredibly enhanced. Chakra overflowed from her tenketsu pores, more than she could blast out. Her muscles bulged, multiplied in strength and speed. With her hands she grabbed the poison senbon and pulled them out of her body. Then she had a feeling that she had never had before in her life.

Sakura felt strong.

More poison senbon came shooting at her through the waterfire, but this time Sakura dodged them easily. And Sakura did not only dodge. She attacked. _I'm gonna kill those Akatsuki!_ she yelled in her head. Carrying Tenten under her arm she surged through the Mizuho waterfire, running on a field of swirling chakra. The waterfire rippled around her as she cut through it, hot and blinding. She still couldn't see anything, but now she could hear the needles as they were moving through the water, and trace them to their source. It seemed there was one ninja attacking her, a few meters away. Sakura adjusted the chakra discharge from her tenketsu and changed directions to meet her attacker. She could hear the ninja running through the water toward her as well.

Suddenly their two chakra projection fields crashed against each other! They met in the midst of the burning water!

"Die, terrorist!" Sakura screamed.

"For the New Dawn!" the Akatsuki shouted.

Fighting in the water wasn't like on land, not with chakra projection fields. It was a three-dimensional battle. And now there was no visibility in the blinding waterfire. Only sound and feeling, instinct. The ninja rocketed below Sakura, going for an upward strike. Their respective chakra fields clashed, like two opposed electromagnetic currents, and Sakura felt the point of the ninja's senbon enter her chakra field. The senbon wasn't thrown this time, but was still in the ninja's hand. He was going to try to stab her with it.

Sakura felt the speed, the power of two Gates open! She extended her field outwards to the left, and at the same moment altered the flow of chakra through her tenketsu so that she twisted to the left side and then down even as she moved forward, out of the path of the Akatsuki's attack. Unfortunately she was still holding Tenten, which was slowing her down. But she brought out one of the poisoned needles she was holding in her free hand and threw it at its original owner. The ninja dodged, too easily. _Damn! He's fast! _Sakura thought. "You can't win, girl!" he shouted. "Don't make your death so painful!"

"I'll rip your heart out!" she screamed back. Sakura attacked him with a spinning kick. The ninja dodged again, and counterattacked with a thrust of his senbon as he jetted down her right flank. The needle grazed her side, as well as the unconscious Tenten's arm. Sakura tried to punch the ninja as he passed her, but she missed badly. She could feel his chakra field within the spiraling flames of the Mizuho, she could feel him! She could feel his attacks! But she couldn't keep up. Even with two Gates open the Akatsuki was too fast. _A jounin_, Sakura thought. _Damn terrorist!_ They circled around each other for a bit, while Sakura again tried to punch him. The Akatsuki again brought up a senbon and stabbed her through her left arm, disabling it. Searing pain shot through her body, and a new flood of poison, but she ignored it. She could ignore it while the chakra released from the Gates was still pouring through her body. _But even at its limit my body only has so much chakra_, Sakura knew. _I don't have much time! Kill him now!_

Now the terrorist attacked aggressively, sensing weakness. She tried to evade his attack, spinning around, rocketing toward the bottom of the pool, but the terrorist still got another needle through Sakura's back. She felt it stick out of her chest, through the lung. Another seizure of pain. Intellectually she knew was not going to win this battle at this rate, that she was losing too much blood and had no air and her body was breaking down under the stress of opening the Gates, but by now she was not thinking intellectually. Instead there was a voice screaming in the head. An inner Sakura, was that what Ino had called it? _Kill!_ the voice screamed. _Akatsuki! Terrorist! Kill!_

Sakura turned around to face the terrorist. A frontal assault! Directly at the terrorist! He wouldn't expect that, and she could use Tenten's body as a shield in front of her! With a final burst of chakra Sakura rocketed at him through the burning flames. "Fuck you! Die!" Sakura shouted.

The Akatsuki terrorist was there, thrusting his arm forward with another needle. The needle stabbed through Tenten's body and into Sakura's chest, just missing her heart, deflected by Tenten's ribcage. Sakura felt a wrenching agony and almost lost consciousness, her chakra field flickering, collapsing. But her momentum carried her forward, pushing her through the terrorist's chakra field, so that now she was literally on top of him.

Through blinding Mizuho fire, she just managed to make out a Rain missing-nin forehead protector, and a black cloak embroidered with red clouds, and the face and the neck of a man.

Sakura opened her mouth and bit down on the man's throat.

The man cried out as Sakura's teeth chomped down on his throat, gnawing on insanely and not letting go. The taste of hot, roaring blood was in her mouth. With her last strength she pulled the senbon out of her own arm and stabbed the man in the chest with it. But the senbon slid off a metal plate under the man's cloak. "Crazy bitch!" the man gasped. He brought his fist about and punched Sakura viciously in the face. She blacked out for a second, dazed, but somehow held on to his neck. Somehow not letting go was the most important thing in all the world. _Cut his throat! Kill him! Blood! Kill, terrorist! Kill!_ She imagined the man screaming, face twisted in a grotesque expression of hell, mouth gaping wide open, but no sound would come out.

The man punched again and Sakura's jaw broke. Finally now Sakura was thrown away from the man's throat. It had only been a superficial attack; her teeth were hardly enough to break through a jounin's vital arteries. Dazed by the Akatsuki's blows, she was blown back aimlessly in the Mizuho. Before the fire closed in between them she saw the man make a hand seal.

"Suiton: Suikoudan!" he screamed. _Water Element: Water Shark Missile! _

The water came lancing out of his hands, a missile shaped like a shark. Ordinarily, the water was strong enough to hit with the force to break bones. But as the Suikoudan went through the Mizuho it caught fire. And the water became death. There was no way to dodge, nor to block it. Sakura stared as a shark burning on fire swallowed her with its jaws—

Suddenly there was a man there in front of her. A powerful cloak of golden chakra billowed around him. The man raised his leg and, very simply, kicked the waterfire Suikoudan. His kick was so strong that he reversed the Suikoudan's direction, blowing it back toward the original location from which it had come. Sakura could not see past the wall of fire, but as the Suikoudan returned to its source she heard a voice scream horribly for a moment. Then the voice didn't scream.

The man turned to her. "Are you all right, Sakura?" the man asked.

Sakura attacked him. "Die!" she screamed. _Kill! Terrorist!_ Her vision was red, drenched in blood and blind with afterimages of flames. She tried to stab the terrorist with the senbon she was still holding so tightly in her hand. The terrorist grabbed her limbs, captured her.

The man shook her. "Sakura… what are you doing? It's me! It's Maito Gai!"

Sakura did not seem to hear him. "I'll rip your heart out!" she yelled. She tried to bite down on the terrorist's throat, but the terrorist pressed her down against him.

Gai held her tightly. "Sakura, listen to me! It's Gai! You opened too many Gates! The chakra is overwhelming your brain!"

As he spoke everything shook, the pool, the whole Asylum, rocking from side to side, as if it was going to collapse. But then the shaking stopped. Suddenly it was dark. Sakura didn't understand why. Then she saw the water wasn't burning. Not… burning? No, it was just water again. Normal water, cold, silent. No more waterfire. No more Mizuho.

The darkness shook Sakura out of her temporary insanity.

She looked up at Maito Gai. Now she saw him, actually saw him. He wasn't a terrorist. He wasn't the enemy. He was the man who had just saved her life. "Gai-sama…" she whispered, trailing off.

"It's all right, Sakura," Gai said gently. "It's over now. The battle's over!"

Sakura nodded numbly.

Gai took her and Tenten in his arms and leaped out of the water. They landed back on the main base platform. Sakura sank to her knees, but she forced herself to look around. She had to see what had happened. Tosuken the Chameleon was there. Between Tosuken's feet lay the corpse of the burned, scarred man, the Akatsuki who had set the rain on fire with Mizuho. Neji and Aumono were there, too. Erima. Tenshe. Lee. All burned, she saw, badly burned. But alive.

"Sakura-chan!" Lee shouted. He rushed over to her side.

The battle was truly over now. Light spilled into the Asylum from the broken roof. The inside of the Asylum was mostly destroyed, but still standing. From the looks of it at least half the martyrs were dead. Ninjas, too, hundreds of them, littered charred corpses and body parts scattered everywhere. There was still some fighting going on, some remnants of Akatsuki, but the defenders were in clear control. The few remaining Akatsuki did not attempt to escape. In front of her Sakura saw a missing-nin run himself into the blade of an Ame ANBU in order to get into a position to kill the martyr behind the ANBU. But the missing-nin's senbon were blocked by another defender. His attack completely failed the Akatsuki sunk to the floor, dead. Suicide. A suicide attack to kill Hanzou's martyrs. It had been a suicide mission all along.

Suddenly Sakura had a strange thought. Erima had been right, she thought, but wrong as well. The rain washed away the blood of the dead, both traitor and loyalist alike.

Somehow in front of her she saw something familiar, fallen on the platform. Something that glittered in the dawn light, and glowed silver like a folded mirror. She picked it up. It was the chakra-cast kunai she had thrown.

"Lee…" she whispered.

"Sakura-chan?"

Now the effects of the Gates wore off. She felt an immense pain, a burning in her muscles, as if they were breaking apart. And then a blank numbness. The poison was overtaking her. Lee clutched her, caught her in his arms. She felt tired… so tired…

"Lee… I…"

There was only darkness, and it was cold as snow.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER THIRTEEN: "One Last Day"**

**Author's Note: **I stole the idea for the Mizuho (waterfire) bloodline jutsu from Mechalich's excellent fanfics "Behind Killer's Eyes" and "Forged in Water." Go read them, they kick ass!

My response to some reviews:

_**1. ****WhenDshitHitsDfAn****:** "Amazing, awe inspiring, absolutely mind blowing action. I loved the techniques and Sakura rock hard determination (pun intended) I would love to see Sakura fall in love with Rock Lee... I have a question though, if the Akatsuki launch a counter attack, shouldnt Tsunade be heading back? Where did she disappear, you havent mentioned much about her whereabouts with a lot of vagueness concerning her..."_

The idea behind the "Battle of the Asylum" is that two simultaneous battles are happening at once: the (off-screen) attack on the main Akatsuki HQ by Ame and Konoha, and the (on-screen) Akatsuki counterattack on the Asylum. The main battle is actually the attack on the Akatsuki headquarters, with most of the major players (Hanzou, Tsunade, Pain, etc.). While they're still fighting Akatsuki manages to sneak a strike force into Ame to try to destroy the Asylum. Tsunade and Hanzou can't head back because they're already committed to their own attack. They just have to trust the defenders to do their job—which they do.

_**2.**_ _**Kurtulmak**__: "__You also do a great job of writing action scenes. There's a sense of flow and suspense that many writers can't pull off. My only real complaint about the action scenes is that the gore and injury level are a bit high for the more "realistic" tone you've set. People shouldn't be able to fight with third degree burns, multiple lethal does of paralytic poison, a punctured kidney and lung, a shattered arm, the other arm occupied with carrying a body, and a lack of oxygen. I'm pretty sure Rasputin died from less. :-)__ [...] __The injuries she survives are a little credibility straining. Then again, you have established with resealing an exploded chest wound that healing techniques in your fic are nigh /miraculous/ compared to canon._

_The big problem here from a character perspective is that she used Tenten as a body-shield (and even got her what would normally be fatally injured in the process). Now unlike failure in a mission, /that/ should be grounds for expulsion from the ninja forces or worse and for Guy's enmity if anyone ever found out. (Thankfully for her, no one did, and no long lasting damage came from it.)__"_

Well, obviously the combat is not "realistic" in the sense that magic superhuman ninjas don't actually exist. Rasputin couldn't hold a candle to Haruno Sakura :P

I think a better definition of "realistic" is that combat should have consequences. People are going to get injured, they're going to suffer psychological damage, and they're going to die. Healing in this story is powerful, yes, but it has definite limits. Chapter 1 should have made that clear from the start. It will be made even clearer in the future.

re: this fight specifically, Sakura would definitely have died if she didn't open the chakra gates. The huge surge of chakra kept her body going beyond her ordinary physical limits; then after the chakra wore off she was rushed to emergency medical care. And Asuma would also have died were it not for Tsunade's personal intervention; all other medic-nin, even someone like Micho, would have failed to save him. (BTW I don't think these events are inconsistent with the canon or even with real-world medical technology. Many soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have survived even after being shot multiple times and being blown up by bombs. And it's clear that Narutoverse medical science is far more advanced than in the real world. Consider what Tsunade did to heal Lee's broken bones.)

Glad you picked up on the Sakura using Tenten as a body-shield thing. No that was not a very ethical or noble thing to do. You might excuse it based off the facts of the situation at the time (if Sakura didn't take out the Akatsuki ninja Tenten would die anyway) but the way I wrote the scene I tried to emphasize that Sakura was not thinking of Tenten at all. All she cared about was killing the enemy in an insane fury of bloodlust. I don't know if I would call that a "problem" from a character perspective, but it is something interesting and surprising about her. Sakura acts much the same way in the canon, during the chuunin exam arc when the sound genin ambush Team 7. Her original motive is to protect her friends but she ends up using her teeth to attack the enemy like a rabid dog. Why did that happen? It's a good "problem" to think about.


	13. One Last Day

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: "One Last Day"**

* * *

For the first time in five months, the dream changed.

It was cold again, and snow covered the ground in heaps and drifts. The sickle moon hung high in the pale sky, and naked trees stood solitary against the horizon dark. Everything was so still and silent. Even the little bubbling brook was frozen, and the wooden bridge over it deserted, except for her and him.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she says. "I never noticed it before."

"No. You're a spring girl," he says.

She laughs. "And what season are you, Uchiha Sasuke?"

He doesn't say anything, but draws her close. His breath is hot on her face and his mouth tastes like fire. But the kiss ends. Then he draws back, as if frightened of her.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

He pauses. "You can't come with me," he says.

"Come where?"

His voice is hard. "Don't you get it? I'm different from you. There's something… something I have to do…"

With horror she understands. "The White Snake… you can't. That's treason!"

"_Is it_?" he asks. Suddenly he turns, and his black eyes are red with swirling flames, like blood.

"You're the traitor!" a voice screams behind her. She spins around, and sees the girl. A girl, a little girl. The girl was kneeling with her hands on her knees as if in prostration. She was completely motionless. There was another explosion above them, and for the first time Sakura saw her clearly. The little girl's face was twisted into a grotesque expression of hell. Her mouth was gaping wide open, as if she was screaming, but no sound came out. "You're the traitor!" the girl screams. "They're trying to save me!"

"No," Sakura says. "No." It was raining, and the rain lit on fire. Every drop, a blazing flame. Where the rain touched the girl, it ate through her, consumed her to the bone. "Sasuke! Please!" she cries. "Don't!"

Sasuke laughs, and his face was scarred, burned skin, dead and black. It was horrifying to look at. He spoke. "An abomination… a blasphemy! But this dawn the Lord Pain has spoken. The innocents… shall… be freed! The Asylum… shall… BURN!" The rain poured down in torrents now, drowning the world. She was swept away in a flood of burning water. Through the blinding fire she just managed to make out a black cloak embroidered with red clouds, and the face and the neck of a man. Sakura opened her mouth and bit down on the man's throat. The taste of hot, roaring blood was in her mouth. "Crazy bitch!" the man gasps, and then she sees the man is Sasuke.

Sasuke brings his fist about and punches Sakura viciously in the face. She blacks out for a second, dazed. Suddenly she was in a cave filled with ice, glittering limestone icicles that dripped from the ceiling in long daggers. And in the middle of this cavern there was a terrible thing. It was immense, frozen, a gigantic metal and flesh construct covered in ice, fed by huge, black cables that burst from the floor and which thrust deep into its chest—like a giant frozen incubator, a metal and flesh womb. The thing shrieked, as if damaged, and then Sakura saw it—glittering there, gleaming, within the gaping hole ripped open in its side—the crystal, the fetus, at the core of that womb. The Annihilation Heart. And in her hands the fetus heart seemed as if it were a face, an eyeless mouth. The mouth screamed. ""Fool," the mouth whispers. "That is what war is. That is what this life means."

"No!" she screams. "No! You damn liar!" But the heart was melting in her hands, turning into something red that poured over her hands like a hot bath. Blood. Now it was dry, cold. Her hands shook. "Sakura!" someone yells. She looked for the voice, but all she saw was the forest. The forest burned. Wild tongues of flame leapt from trunk to trunk, lighting up trees like chandeliers in the dark. Something hit her hard in the chest. She flew back into a tree trunk and cried out in pain, falling, crashing to the ground floor. On her hands and knees in the mud, dazed, the girl could barely manage to raise her head to see her attacker.

"I didn't lie," Sasuke says. He wears the cloak of Akatsuki, and his Konoha forehead protector is scratched through. "But you did. Twice you lied and then twice more. Don't you get it? _Don't you get it_?"

"Don't leave!" she screams, desperate, pleading. "I won't let you!"

She rushes at him with balled fists. But he catches her up easily. She's so weak and helpless. All she can do is cry. Through a haze of blurry tears she sees him silhouetted black against the burning forest. He stretches out the palm of his hand toward her, and then his eyes are gold flames.

"Forget me, Sakura," he whispers—

"NO!" the girl screamed, bolting up in her bed. She almost jumped out of the bed altogether, so horrible was the nightmare. But a firm hand stayed her.

"It's all right, Sakura," said Honjo Micho, Konoha Chief of Surgery.

"Micho-sama…" Sakura whispered. For a moment she could not figure out where she was. Then the girl remembered. The Asylum. She had fought in the battle in the Asylum, and she had passed out afterwards. She must be in the hospital in the Rain Country. Groaning, she wiped the sweat off her face with a bed sheet and tried to calm herself.

"Nightmare?" Micho asked.

She nodded.

Sakura lay back on the hospital bed. The metal ceiling was just clean enough to make out her own reflection in it, and it wasn't a pretty sight. She was covered in bandages from head to toe. No wonder, she must have been stabbed a dozen times by poisoned needles. Oh, and burned by Mizuho waterfire. Oh, and used a kinjutsu by opening the Chakra Gates. Her head still swam from the aftershock of the battle.

"What happened?" she asked Micho. "After?"

"You almost died. Sucked up enough poison to bring down the whole civilian population of Konoha. We had to take it out of your chest with a pipe. As damned a thing as I ever saw. I'm not exactly sure how you survived myself, though I got to confess I didn't put too much thought into the question. You've been out for three days."

"And the others?" Sakura asked. "The battle… my friends…"

"They're fine. At least in a physical sense. Your friend Ino and especially that Rock Lee boy seem to be very upset over your injuries. They've both been staying by your bedside around the clock. I just shooed them out in fact. Told them you wouldn't wake up for another three days at least." Micho smiled. "But it seems that nightmare of yours has made me into a liar."

Sakura nodded. She didn't have the energy to make more conversation, so the two of them retreated into silence for a while. Micho stared at Sakura from his seat by the side of the bed. The old doctor looked even more weary than usual, and his hair was positively scandalous. His face was grave.

At last he cleared his throat and spoke up. "Sakura… pardon me if I am getting too personal, but I... I still cannot forget your face from that night."

"What night?" she asked, though of course she knew.

"The night that Sarutobi Saisen died… and you came into the hospital with Asuma's unconscious body. Your face was covered with blood. You looked—so young, so frightened. But it was your eyes that were the most horrible. They were filled with pain. Dying like trash… never-ending hatred…the pain that never heals… that is war…that is what I saw in your face. No child should ever have that face! It's monstrous! Taking children and training them to—to become weapons… to kill other human beings… and to be killed…" Micho trailed off.

"That is the way of the shinobi," Sakura said.

The old doctor looked away. His voice was soft. "Yes. But you're not a shinobi, Sakura. The Hokage took away your forehead protector. She freed you… you don't have to fight anymore. You don't have to be part of this way of death and torment! You can leave it all behind… I don't understand. You're such a promising medical talent. You can go to Ashwarren, enter a civilian medical school, be a doctor. You can save, Sakura, not kill. Isn't that what you want?"

_What do you want, girl?_ a voice echoed in Sakura's memory. _What, exactly, do you want?_

Just then the door to the hospital room slammed open. Yamanaka Ino burst in. "Hah!" she said. "You cactus! I knew I heard your voice. Welcome back to the world of the living. Thank god, just in time too. I was getting tired of taking care of your stupid pig. Even though you're supposed to be the caretaker!"

Tonton was in Ino's arms. The fat pink pig squealed and burst onto the bed, crawling onto Sakura's chest and snuggling up to her. Tonton was very excited to see her. Sakura giggled, feeling the pig lick her face with her little tongue. "Ow, that hurts," she said.

"Be careful she doesn't poop on you," Ino said. "Yes, that _did_ happen to me yesterday!"

Sakura giggled. "Tonton only does that to people she likes."

"How charming... what would the pig do if she didn't like me, I wonder? This is all your fault, anyway. First running off for some majorly epic battle against Akatsuki—without telling me!—and then for getting knocked into a coma in said battle. Jeez… sounds fun. Can't believe I missed it." Ino swished her long ponytail. "I would have kicked some Akatsuki ass!"

Sakura had almost forgotten about the attack. "The battle… the attack on the Akatsuki base. Did we win?"

"Of course we won, duh!" Ino said.

Micho smiled faintly. He didn't mention what they were talking about before. "The Akatsuki base was destroyed with only minor causalities. Akatsuki was routed, and the Akatsuki counterattack on Ame failed. And there's one more thing." He paused. "The Hokage has reached an accord with Lord Hanzou. Rain shall join the United Countries."

The United Countries Embassy left Amegakure three days later.

The departing ninja and functionaries gathered at the gates of the city, by the rusted drawbridge which led out of it. Sakura tried to look forward, tried not to look back into the city, but was unsuccessful. In truth Amegakure was not much different than before. It was still raining, warrens of metal towers still peaked against the sky, and the immense black face of the Asylum still stood in the center. Then Sakura had the thought that Ame was a place which suffered terrorist attacks constantly; some less deadly than the one she had experienced, some more. Still the city went on.

It was the Embassy which was different. Rumors were flying around about the deal that the Hokage had struck with Hanzou over the UC. Publically, of course, they maintained that their joint attack on Akatsuki had been highly successful and as a consequence, in a decision that was to both countries' mutual benefit, they resolved to continue and deepen their military cooperation through the United Countries organization. But many speculated that Fire had also secretly made other concessions to Rain in order to seal the deal: promises of vast monetary aid, or ceding territory along the border between Fire and Rain, or even a trade of secret jutsu and bloodlines, including the Byakugan. Sakura didn't know what was true or not.

However the deal had been struck, the effect was dramatic. The addition of Rain completely transformed the atmosphere of the Embassy. It was not just the United Countries Embassy in name now, but in practice. As they gathered at the gates hundreds of rain-nin joined them, along with thousands of assorted other Ame personnel and trains of material-laden horses and wagons. They would travel together. Bad feeling between the two villages still ran high, but now they were bonded together, at least in part, by a common enemy. Both the attack against Akatsuki and the counterattack had forced them to trust and rely on each other in the heat of combat. The price for that new-won mutual trust had been the dead. Hundreds of leaf-nin and rain-nin had died in the battle. That, too, was something different about the Embassy. It had gotten larger and smaller at the same time.

Sakura thought she was different as well. Sakura's wounds had healed, mostly, but the internal damage to her muscles caused from opening the Chakra Gates would take longer to repair. Much longer, weeks at best. When she walked it was with a dull pain in her limbs, which increased to a sharp pain if she tried to exercise them more strongly. She would have to go easy on the training for the time being. Somehow she was not sorry. Her previous enthusiasm to become a ninja again had been diminished after her time in Rain. _I passed the test_, she thought. _Didn't I? I mastered a forbidden kinjutsu and used it to save Tenten's life. I showed my strength._ Then why did she feel so… so awful?

She remembered Micho's words. Dying like trash. The pain that never heals. She could get away, she knew. She could go to Ashwarren and train to become a civilian doctor. _Then why am I still here?_

_What do I want, Tsunade-sensei?_

The Hokage only spoke to her once. Sakura had been limping along the hallways of the hospital, still wrapped in bandages, with Lee at her side. The Hokage passed them with barely a glance. "My pig has not been washed for one week, girl," she said. "That is entirely unacceptable. I shall not warn you again." Then the Hokage was gone. Sakura had wanted to say something back but nothing came out. Nevertheless the girl made sure to give Tonton a daily bubble bath after that. The pig enjoyed it very much.

As the Embassy was preparing to leave, Sakura lounged by the storage wagons with Team Gai and Team Asuma. Chouji was trying to steal some extra food rations, while Ino shouted at him, and Anake asked Chouji if he hadn't stolen enough food during the Akatsuki attack on Ame when everyone else had been busy fighting. Gai's students were more subdued (well, relatively. Lee was still Lee). Tenten seemed to be in a depressed funk.

Just then the three rain genin from Team Tosuken came up to them. "So it seems my grandfather has seen fit to make an alliance with Konoha," Aumono said. He grinned. "Too bad, I'd rather kill you."

"You may still get that chance during the Iwa chuunin exam," Neji said. He paused. "As we will."

Aumono laughed. "Until then, Hyuuga."

Erima pointed her black knife at Sakura and licked her lips. "Haruno Sakura… daughter of the Demonslayer. In the exam you shall be my target."

Aumono looked at Tenshe. "I guess that means you get the moron in the green spandex." Tenshe shook his head. Anake laughed.

"Hey!" Lee shouted, shaking his fist in rage. "Shut up!"

The rain genin turned and walked away, back over to the part of the camp where most of the Ame ninja were congregating together. Meanwhile the Embassy began to move. All of the ninja were there, as was the Hokage, who was again riding on her white horse. In the fog of the constant rain the Hokage seemed almost like some sort of white wraith, ethereal, otherworldly. She spoke a few words and gave the order to march. Then the Embassy was rolling out of the city gates. But Sakura didn't see Tosuken, nor Maito Gai. She hadn't seen Gai since the battle in the Asylum.

"Where's Gai-sama?" Sakura asked.

Lee shook his head. "I dunno. Gai-sensei is never late. It is very strange." He perked up with a sudden thought. "Maybe he's on a secret S-rank mission or something!"

"Exactly right, Lee!" a voice boomed, laughing. The incomparable visage of Maito Gai appeared in a cloud of white smoke next to them. He gave Lee a thumbs up and grinned.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee said.

"I've been given a secret mission in the Rain Country," Gai said. "It may take a long time to complete. I'm afraid I won't be able to join you on the Embassy right just now!"

Lee was shocked. "Gai-sensei! But our team! How can we pass the chuunin exam without you?"

"Don't worry, Lee. I have complete faith in each and every one of you! Remember the springtime passion of youth!"

"Please join us again as soon as possible, Gai-sensei," Neji said. His huge white eyes stared up at the dark towers which surrounded them. "You must not stay too long in Bliss. This is no good place."

Gai smiled sadly. "No, Neji, it is not. This place…this place is old. There is no youth here. Only war… war and death. But it does not have to be this way! The dream of Bliss, of the idealists who founded this city, still lives on. It's the dream of the Fifth Hokage! The dream of the United Countries. A dream… a hope… of peace!"

He paused, and Sakura saw that tears had formed in Maito Gai's eyes. The salt water ran down his cheeks, mingling with the rain. He bent down to Lee, to the smaller boy who so worshipped him that he had even adopted his ridiculous outfit. The man hugged him fiercely. "Lee… I told you that since the day I met you, the purpose of my life has been to train you to become the strongest ninja possible. And I've tried to teach you about what makes a ninja truly strong."

"It's about protecting the people precious to us!" Lee said. "A spirit that never gives up! The Will of Fire!"

"Yes. The Will of Fire… it just as the Hokage said. We are the kindling… and we shall spread fire! A fire of hope. As hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. And one day this untamed fire will reach the darkest, most wretched corners of our world. One day… one last day… the passionate flames of youth will burn even here! There will be peace in the Rain Country. To that splendid purpose, a ninja must gladly give his life!"

"Right!" Lee said. "I understand, Gai-sensei!"

Gai laughed deeply. "Alright. Now go along, all of you!" The Embassy was almost finished moving out of the gates of Bliss. Maito Gai remained within the city, watching them go and waving. The young ninja made their goodbyes to him.

"Thank you, Gai-sama," Sakura said.

"Haha!" Gai grinned. "No problem, Sakura! Go kick ass!" He shouted after them, his figure gradually receding into the dark pouring rain. "Remember, youth never waits! Don't let anything turn you from the way you have made for yourself! Forge ahead in the end! Make me proud!"

Where the road had reached a conclusion it began again. The road ran back across the Weeping Lands, then downhill and south, toward the border with the Wind Country. After the fierce fighting of the week before, the ninja on the Embassy were wary of possible Akatsuki ambushes or attacks. But they encountered nothing except the rain. At last the storm clouds overhead began to thin, and in the far distance there was a faint haze of golden light. Soon the Embassy would cross over into Wind.

In the Wind Country, Sakura thought, there would the thing that Rain did not have. There would be the sun.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER FOURTEEN: "The Innocent"**


	14. The Innocent

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: "The Innocent"**

* * *

"Hey, I thought the Wind Country was a desert!" Rock Lee said.

The Embassy had crossed over the border from Rain into a rich, fertile river valley. Horses and buffalo and enormous flocks of birds grazed on tall grass that grew as high as a man. Ancient Kokaeo trees twisted up from the muddy rushing water, and golden monkeys scampered between the exposed roots of the trees which were like tendrils of floating rope. It was no desert. Sakura imagined the sight was what Rain had been like before, before it was cursed.

In truth most of the Wind Country really was a desert, but there was also a river. The Haven River, though here it was named the Tazawa. It continued to rush southwards from the Rain Country. Swelled with the storms of Rain the Tazawa River cut a straight path south through the otherwise arid land, bringing with it the vital resources of civilization: water, minerals, life. For a time the Embassy followed its path. They passed the major cities of Wind—Whitewarren, Yayoi, Soruto—which lined the river's path, and would have gone all the way to Sawara, except that they did not have time after being delayed in Rain for so long. Sawara was the capital city of Wind, sitting at the mouth of the Tazawa River Delta where the river emptied out into the Sea of the Sage. Sawara's beauty was famous, and many of the people on the Embassy had been looking forward to a short break.

Instead the Embassy turned away from the river and headed west. Here at last was the desert—the Shiroi Desert. Hot, dark red dunes stretched lifeless and barren from horizon to horizon. During the day the sun beat down relentlessly upon the ground, and in the night vicious sandstorms swept across the unprotected dunes. It was the heat that was the worst. Many of the civilians and regular soldiers, and even a few ninja, succumbed to heat stroke and dehydration. Fortunately here and there were dotted oases, pockets of green life generated from the underground water which flowed beneath much of the Hiroi. The Embassy hopped from oasis to oasis as best they could.

One night, as they trudged over a particularly gigantic dune, they spotted a strange glow of orange light in the distance. As they got closer they saw it was the Candlelit Monastery. Hundreds of thousands of candles burned across every inside and outside surface of the huge temple complex. The smell of smoke and incense was overpowering. As legend had it, it was at this place that the Sage of Six Paths had written the sacred texts of the religion he had founded, Kiyome. The monks burned the candles to light the way to paradise.

They made camp by the Monastery that night. Chiriku, the head Fire Monk, led a group of priests kowtowing up the temple steps, muttering and kneading prayer beads as they went. Many on the Embassy also made the pilgrimage into the Monastery. It was one of the most holy sites in the world, a source of strength and faith for all who followed Kiyome. Sakura was not a follower. Instead she stayed outside in the Embassy camp. But as she went to sleep she could still hear the half-sung, half-whispered sounds of prayer from inside the Candlelit Monastery. Her sleep was full of dreams.

The next day, when it was still early enough to, Sakura went out into the desert by herself to train. Tonton waddled along behind her, rubbing her snout against Sakura's legs with glee. Sakura's muscles were feeling a little better, enough to exercise them. She had delayed serious training long enough already, and she couldn't afford to waste more time. The Hokage was still going to test her when the Embassy got to Iwa. _I have to be a ninja again, I can't fail. I have to prepare myself. _

She decided to continue training her chakra control. Of course she couldn't practice Walking With Water in the desert, but there was something else: sand. The chakra projection fields she had learned to make could be used with any material. Water was just one of the easiest, in the sense that it didn't take much chakra to manipulate. Sand was much heavier and looser.

In the dunes away from the camp she pressed her hand to the sand. She concentrated and released a burst of spinning chakra from the tenketsu in her palm. The sand beneath caved into a small crater, pushed aside by the chakra. At the same time a spasm of pain shot through her arm. _Damn_, she thought. It wasn't just her muscles but her chakra circulatory system which was still damaged from opening the Chakra Gates. Nevertheless the pain wasn't too bad. Sakura pressed on, releasing more chakra from her body.

Now she thrust her hands into the sand and then out again, scooping up fistfuls of sand. The sand seeped down between her fingertips, but she caught it in a chakra projection field. Instead of using chakra to force the sand away, as with water, she used it to hold the sand against her fist. Then she moved it. She spun around and the sand went with her, lengthening out in the chakra field like a spiraling rope, a whip. She crouched down, pulling the field tight to her body. She released the field and then with suppressed energy the sand exploded out around her. Tonton scrambled away from the flying sand, squealing.

"Shit," a man said. "You've gotten really strong."

Sakura looked up. Sarutobi Asuma was smoking a cigarette in front of her.

"Asuma-sama!" she said, surprised. She jumped to her feet. "You're back!"

Asuma grinned. "Miss me, I hope?"

Tonton crooned and ran in excited circles around Asuma. Sakura was more restrained. She hadn't seen Asuma since that night in the hospital a month and a half ago, when the Hokage had taken away her forehead protector. Asuma had recovered a week later but had been sent away on a mission almost immediately. Now, in Wind, he had come to join the UC Embassy.

"I'm glad you're here, Asuma-sama," Sakura said.

"That's good. I'm glad I'm here, too. Tell me, Sakura. You're the first person I've seen in two days. How's my genin team doing?"

"Uh… well…" Sakura started. Team Asuma—Ino, Chouji, and Anake—had been without a sensei for the month they had been on the Embassy. They were expected to train by themselves, of course, but hadn't taken it seriously at all. At least Ino and Chouji hadn't. They might very well have gotten weaker than they were before. Asuma would not be pleased.

Asuma took Sakura's hesitancy as a confirmation. "Figured as much. Those lazy bastards." He took a draw on his cigarette and blew out smoke. "I'm gonna whip 'em in shape!"

He looked at Sakura. "So you learned how to make chakra projection fields. That's a high-level jutsu. Even I can barely do it. For a genin kunoichi to master something like that… it's like the damn second coming of Tsunade!" Asuma laughed. "Heh… I remember when you and Ino were rivals. You're so far beyond Ino now… it's almost embarrassing to me as a sensei."

"I'm not a ninja anymore," Sakura said.

"No? Then what the hell are you doing on the UC Embassy? Yeah, sure, I heard you got demoted. Don't tell me you're taking that seriously!"

Sakura shook her head. "No… I don't care about that. But…" Her voice trailed off. She had almost pushed what had happened to the back of her mind, to the anesthesia of memory. Now it all came rushing back. The burning forest. Asuma, on the ground, a hole in his chest, blood pouring out of him. Beater's blown-apart body, bright blue eyes that stared out blankly of a face that seemed as young as her own. The mission. The mission was the reason she was still here.

She stared down at her hands. "Asuma-sama… I'm sorry about what happened on the mission. It was all my fault."

"No," Asuma said. "It wasn't, Sakura. Who told you that?" His words were filled with a palpable anger. "If it was Tsunade… if she told you it was your fault… then she lied! Damn that woman. I suspected she would do something like this… Listen to me, Sakura. You _never _should have been on that mission. It wasn't really B-rank. It was supposed to be ANBU only. Tsunade specifically ordered you three genin on it over the objection of the High Council. The intelligence we had was completely wrong. The objective was impossible. The whole mission was fucked from the beginning—

"Who was he?" Sakura suddenly blurted out.

Asuma stared at her.

She needed to ask. She needed to know. "Beater… Sarutobi Saisen. Who was he?"

Sarutobi Asuma took a long drag on his cigarette. Smoke leaked out of the corner of his mouth and caught on a dry breeze from the interior of the desert. The Leaf jounin considered her, then grinned. "He was my little brother."

_His brother. _

Sakura felt sick to her soul.

_I killed his brother. _

"I'm sorry," she said. "It should have been me."

"Sakura—" Asuma started.

"And don't tell me it wasn't my fault!" she exploded. "Don't tell me you got someone else killed before too! Is that supposed to be make me feel better? That doesn't mean anything!"

Asuma paused. "I loved Beater. When I found out he died that was the worst day of my life. And then I promised myself that I would find the killer, and then I would do to him what he had done to Beater. I would kill him. Aye, and I know what it feels like, too. To kill another person." Asuma reach into his belt and brought out a metal trench knife. He held the pointed edge down in front of his face. "I'll take this blade and I'll drive it clean through his throat. He'll still be alive though, still conscious, for a few seconds. He'll still have time to stare up at me with those cursed Enshogan eyes. Then I'll bend down and squash his eyes with my bare hands. And then… I'll have vengeance. Victory. But it won't bring my brother back. No, there'll be an initial bloodlust, but it will fade so fast. Then I'll only feel an emptiness, a blankness, deep in my soul. Just like all the other killings. And the first killing above all."

The man looked at Sakura. "Have you ever had that feeling, Sakura? Then you don't know anything about killing. Don't ever say it should have been you again. It shouldn't ever be the innocent."

Sakura didn't say anything. Over the horizon a sandstorm was brewing, huge and dark, crashing against the early morning sun like a parched wave. Behind them the candles of the Candlelit Monastery flickered in the sudden harsh wind, and Tonton cowered between Sakura's feet. It was still a long way toward Suna.

Sarutobi Asuma grinned. "Come on," Asuma said. "Enough about that. Let's go find those lazy bastards."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER ****FIFTEEN****: "The Village Hidden in the Sand"**

**Author's Note: **My response to Ichi-Star's review:

_**Ichi-Stars**: As I'm glad there is romance in this story, I'm also extremely glad that it isn't important to the story right now. It is really more about Sakura, and her struggle to become a powerful ninja in her own right. I have run into amazing stories that have really interesting plot line but is completely destroyed because the author tries to add drama and romance and KILLS it. But I'm sure that, that won't happen to you. With the whole Lee almost kiss, it was well placed and went with the flow of the story that I really didn't mind it. Sometimes it isn't needed, and lately I have been leaning towards fanfictions that don't have romance in them. So perhaps it's my current, opinion?_

I hear you, but I have to tell you that the only reason there isn't a lot of romance in this story right now is because, um, Sakura hasn't met her true love yet =/. Which is going to happen when she gets to Iwa. And her relationship with this person is going to be very important to WILL OF STONE. But it'll be a different kind of romance then you typically see in fanfics. It's going to be a romance that actually strengthens Sakura's personal journey as a ninja, instead of drawing attention from it. I think it will make the story better.

Thanks again for the review, Ichi-Stars. I really appreciate it!


	15. The Village Hidden in the Sand

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN: "The Village Hidden in the Sand"**

* * *

A sandstorm blew from the west. The scalding winds which buffeted them were like whips, and they held thick cloth against their faces, pulled the reins of horses and oxen tight, struggling through the storm. Everything was in pitch darkness. It was night, admittedly, but if not for the sandstorm there should have been stars.

"There!" someone called, shouting to be heard over the dull roar of the sands. "Look!"

Then Sakura saw it too: a dim white glow, in the far distance, like a candle. As the Embassy pushed toward the light they saw it came from a lighthouse. The brilliant white light cut a path through the storm. Around the lighthouse, as if gradually receding from the darkness, they made out high stone walls stained red by the sand, huge and encircling. The snaking peaks of a great sandstone canyon jutted above the walls. Then they knew they had arrived at their destination.

Sunagakure. The Village Hidden in the Sand.

It hadn't even been a year since the invasion, since December 7th—Konoha attacked by Suna allied with Akatsuki. Sakura remembered it all. The surprise attack in the stadium, the chase through the forest, trying to fight Gaara, being defeated in seconds and then used as bait against Sasuke. Useless, pathetic, worthless during the battle. But she had been useful afterwards, in the aftermath, when all the rest of the ninja were treating their wounds. She could pick up the corpses, the carcasses of both sides, pick them up in wheelbarrows and pile them up in little hills of cold flesh. Some of they had been great ninja, captains and generals; others, children younger than her. They were not so different in death.

Now Konoha and Suna were allies. An alliance of convenience, just as the invasion had been a war of convenience. If circumstances changed, they would be at each other's throats again as easily as they now bowed their heads in respect. It was the Hokage that had brokered the treaty between Konoha and Suna in the aftermath of December 7th. Many of the villagers had strongly, even violently, disagreed with her decision. But more understood the necessity of the alliance, and ultimately the High Council had backed the Hokage to ratify it. It was no surprise that the Hokage had chosen Suna as one of the major stops on the UC Embassy. If all went well with the visit, the Wind Country would join Rain as the third country to join the UC, and the second greater country.

Then they were here. The sandstorm only seemed to grow harsher as they approached the village walls. The entrance to Suna was little more than a narrow slit in the wall, a shadowed tunnel from desert to civilization, barely wide enough for two wagons side by side. But as the Embassy passed through the tunnel the sandstorm faded out behind them. Then all of a sudden the noise and roar, the wind, was gone. They emerged out of the other side of the tunnel into a wide canyon avenue. Strange, flickering lights lined the road, and Sakura realized they weren't electric—it was torchlight, candlelight. The smell of smoke was in the air. Dim cliffs of scarred red rock loomed around them like scattered glass.

A contingent of Suna ninja were waiting in welcome at the end of the canyon, including the new Kazekage. Crowds of villagers had also come to see the Embassy. To her surprise, they seemed quite friendly. They cheered and clapped as the Embassy entered the village. Why? In fact, Sakura knew that the treaty of alliance between Konoha and Suna had not been well received in Suna. There had been riots. She suspected that the government had manipulated the welcoming ceremony to exclude those who opposed the alliance, probably even instructed the crowd how to act. It was a staged event.

Many people on the Embassy didn't seem to notice. They waved back, smiling. "This is cool!" Rock Lee said to her. "The sand-nin really like us now!" "Only because they haven't seen you yet, you creep!" Ino said back. The crowd of flunkies cheered the loudest for the Hokage. She was riding at the front of the Embassy on her white horse. She waved calmly to the gathered Suna crowd, looking like a god. The crowd seemed to cheer more the more they saw her, Senju Tsunade the legendary sannin, Tsunade the Queen of Torment—

The Hokage's upper body exploded.

One second, she was waving to the crowd. The next everything above her waist was gone, her torso tumbling from the horse like a rag doll. A golden haze occupied the space where the Hokage had been. Sakura screamed and rushed toward her sensei. All the leaf-nins were doing the same. There was utter confusion and chaos. An immense uproar, the screaming of horses and men, the drawing of daggers and swords.

"Tsunade-sensei!" Sakura shouted. "Tsunade-sensei!" _No—it __can't be! _

"It's a trap!" she heard a voice yell.

"Damn that demon Gaara!" said another.

"Suna betrayed us! Attack!"

People rushed about in a mad frenzy. The crowd of Suna villagers had turned into a riot, a mob running in all directions. Seemingly out of nowhere dozens of masked Suna ANBU appeared. Sand ninja surrounded the Embassy. All pretense of friendliness had vanished. Somehow Sakura pushed and forced her way to the front of the Embassy. People were crying, screaming. In the background there was the sound of fighting. Fighting between leaf and sand-nins. "Oh my God, the Fifth's dead!" someone sobbed. And then Sakura saw it too, there it was, unmistakable, two legs and half a torso. She shrieked and threw herself onto the remains of the corpse.

No—no, something was wrong, something was happening. The corpse was… _melting_. It was slowly dissolving into mud.

"It's a bunshin," she whispered, then shouted, "It's a mud clone! It's a mud clone!" But her voice was drowned out in the roar of the fighting. Sakura could hear the clash of kunai and swords, the cry of jutsu. Ambush, battle. Another battle. She wouldn't shirk now. No. Where was Tsunade-sensei?

"FOOLS!" a voice called out over the crowd. Suddenly Sakura could not move. Her muscles were totally frozen. Everyone else in the canyon was also frozen in place; only the strongest ninja, the jounin and ANBU, were able to break free at once. _Mass Binding_, she realized. _The Hokage's jutsu! She stopped the fight! _

After a few seconds the Hokage released the Mass Binding. Then everyone could turn to look up at her. She was standing on a rooftop, unharmed. A dead body was thrown behind her shoulder. "Fools," she said. "It was an Akatsuki assassin. That is our true enemy. They seek to destroy us by exploiting the divisions between ourselves. We must not let them. Remember the purpose of this Embassy!"

The fighting stopped. Ninja that had been locked in hand to hand combat backed away from each other, vaguely embarrassed. The crowd of villagers returned to their places. It was almost like it had been before, except it wasn't. There was no cheering or clapping now. Suna ANBU jumped up onto the rooftop, and the Hokage gave the body of the assassin over to them. Then, very calmly, she walked back to the place where her bunshin had been blown up.

Sakura was still kneeling in the sand from where she had thrown herself on her sensei's bunshin, covered in the wet mud of the clone. The Hokage's eyes looked down at Sakura with disdain. "What are you doing, girl? Get off your knees." Sakura scrambled to her feet. In the shock of the attack she had forgotten to stand up. Meanwhile the Hokage's gaze turned away, toward another figure that had just joined them.

It was a child, a boy the same age as her. Sakura knew him. His hair was dust red, his face somehow white even in a desert where the ground itself was sunburned. On the right side of his forehead was tattooed the character for "_Kindness_," but his eyes seemed to have within them only death. As Sakura looked at the boy a terrible chill ran through her. They had met during the last chuunin exam. He had murdered her friends in cold blood, would have murdered her if Sasuke and Naruto hadn't stopped him. A psychopath, a demon vessel shaped by the Suna elders into a weapon that lived only for killing.

After December 7th they had made him the Fifth Kazekage.

"Welcome to Suna, Hokage-sama," said Sabaku Gaara.

"Indeed," said the Hokage.

The next morning the sandstorm had passed. The dawn sun was bright in the sky. A light breeze blew along the canyons that made up the hidden ninja village, cool and wet. "It's a perfect day to train!" Asuma declared. "And even if it wasn't I'd still make you work your asses off, you lazy bastards." He dragged Ino, Chouji, and Anake out of their beds. Ino pleaded for Sakura to tag along with them, so she went as well, for moral support.

Asuma found them a training field near the Embassy's living quarters, in the northwest district of the village. He ordered the four of them to start running laps while he leaned against a fence and smoked a cigarette. Ino was soon tired out. She collapsed to the ground, groaning. Sakura tried to pull her up. "You can't really be this pathetic, can you?" Anake asked as he lapped them.

"My muscles are still sore from yesterday," Ino said. "And the day before that and the day before that!" Asuma had been working his genin team day and night ever since he had joined the Embassy. Yesterday had been the worst. Asuma had made them train right through the sandstorm.

"Don't give up," Sakura said. "You can do it!"

"Ah, stuff it, Sakura. You're starting to sound just like your boyfriend."

"He's notmy boyfriend," Sakura said, annoyed. Ino was referring to Rock Lee; ever since leaving Amegakure the boy seemed to think that Sakura had agreed to become his girlfriend and never forgot to remind others of that dubious fact. The "Handsome Green Flash of Konoha" was out, replaced by the "#1 Most Romantic Ninja." By the second day Sakura had been forced to tell him that she was not, in fact, his girlfriend. The only problem was Lee hadn't believed her. _Of course you are_, he said, smiling in that oblivious way of his. _Maybe you just don't know it yet!_

"I know, he's a creepy stalker. But if he's not your boyfriend then you should throw away that stupid chakra kunai he gave you. It's in your pouch right now, isn't it? Girl, talk about mixed signals!"

"Ino!" Asuma shouted. "100 pushups!"

"Asuma-sensei! Why?"

"For being weaker than your rival! Get to work!"

"What are you talking about?" Ino cried. "I can still beat up Sakura any day!"

"Uh… can you?" Chouji asked. "I mean she's kind of been training really hard."

"Course I can! She's not even a ninja anymore!"

Anake laughed. "Embarrassing, that. You're weaker than a pigwasher."

"Pah! Let's settle thi—mmmfff!"

In midsentence Asuma ran over and clamped a hand down over Ino's mouth. Ino struggled uselessly in Asuma's grip. "Being a ninja has nothing to do with rank," he said. "Sakura is twice the ninja you are right now."

"Don't give me that Will of Fire crap again!" Ino managed when Asuma released her. But she started doing pushups.

After an hour or two of grueling physical training Asuma started to push his three students through a fighting regimen. He made two shadow clones and let them spar with Ino, Chouji, and Anake. He himself stood on the side and watched the fight, calling out strategies and advice.

While they sparred Sakura practiced her chakra projection fields with the sand. Even with her chakra circulatory system damaged she had made considerable progress these past few days. Now she could manipulate the sand without physically touching it, using concentrated chakra fields to shape it and hold it from a distance. The challenge was to spin her chakra in the right way to create the right field manifold. She thought her chakra control was beyond Rock Lee's level now, even though she could still only open two Gates. Her body wasn't strong enough to open more.

Using her hands as a focal point—there were far more tenketsu in the hands than in any other comparable part of the body—Sakura could now eject a targeted stream of tightly rotating chakra in such a way that the chakra coiled around itself. Then she could use the chakra stream like a rope, to pull things, or flatten the stream out into a shovel-like wedge, to push them. Using both her hands, she could even eject out enough chakra to shape the sand itself into a wall. The sand wall wasn't nearly as strong as her Earth Wall jutsu, but since it only a manipulation of an existing material, it took much less chakra, and it was more flexible. She could raise or lower the wall and move it around her. _It's a lot like what Gaara does with his sand_, Sakura realized. _The principle is the same. Just that his control of the sand comes to him by instinct, and I'm doing it all consciously. _

"Ass-kicking chakra fields, Sakura!" Asuma called to her, grinning. "But you do realize you're making me look bad again? Stop that and come over here!"

Sakura was tired out anyway, so she went over to join Asuma. From their position on the sidelines the two of them watched Ino, Chouji, and Anake spar. Of course the three genin had no hope of actually defeating Asuma's bunshins, considering he was an elite jounin. But it was instructive to watch how each of the genin approached the fight. It reminded Sakura of Team 7's bell test. Anake was the cool genius, clearly the strongest despite being a year younger. Chouji was the loudmouth idiot. Ino was the weak girl. They were alike in another way, too; the three of them had no teamwork. Their attacks on Asuma were disorganized and individual. At first Sakura didn't understand, because Ino and Chouji had been on the same team for a year. But upon closer observation she realized that their fighting styles were completely different. They relied on someone to bridge their attacks to be effective. Shikamaru had been the glue that held the team together and now he was gone.

"Pretty ugly, huh?" Asuma asked Sakura. "Their teamwork is shit."

"Yeah."

Asuma blew out a ring of smoke from his cigarette. "It would've been better if you were still on the team. You didn't do any training together, either, but you and Ino and Chouji know each other. Now it's like starting from scratch. If they're this way in the chuunin exam… they'll probably get killed."

"What do you think of Anake?"

"Shimura? Like a clone of his father, and his grandfather before them. Kid's on a fast track to the ruling elite: ANBU, a leadership position in one of the general Commands, maybe a seat on the High Council. Royal blood, you know. Always hated bastards like that, especially because I used to be one. His story is even more fucked up than usual, though."

"You mean his original team?"

"Aye. His sensei and his teammates were killed on one of their first missions. Happens sometimes, but not like this. Turns out the mission was an Akatsuki trap, a pretext to kidnap Anake. I guess they figured the kid had some sort of secret information or power—who knows, maybe he does. Anyway the other genin were killed. The sensei managed to escape and bring Anake back to Konoha, but the sensei died of his wounds. The High Council originally decided to assign Anake a new team with the next graduating class. But he wanted to take the Iwa chuunin exam. When you were discharged a spot on Team 10 opened up. He demanded to have it and the Council agreed. I heard the Hokage personally intervened with the decision."

Sakura considered this. It was a horrible story, but nothing too surprising. "If all the genin teams are full, then… assuming I can pass the Hokage's test… become a ninja again… who am I going to take the exam with?"

"Been wondering that myself. I imagine the woman has some sort of plan. She always does."

"Shit, I hope you're not gonna take the exam with us," a boy's voice said, mocking.

Sakura turned. Sabaku Kankuro and Sabaku Temari were standing on a sandstone rooftop behind them. The Sand Siblings, the #1 elite genin team in Suna. But Gaara had been promoted directly from genin to Kazekage. That left only the two of them on the team.

"That would suck," Temari agreed. "She was the weakest genin in the last chuunin exam."

Before Sakura would have shrunk back before their insults, but the words came easily to her now. "That was six months ago. I'm not the same."

Temari laughed. "Right. Your forehead is even bigger than I remembered."

"And her ninja rank is even lower," Kankuro said. "Grooming the Hokage's pig now, I hear?"

Now Asuma's three students had come over to join the action. "Shut your trap, you clown face!" Ino said, shaking her fist. "That pigwasher can kick your painted ass any day!"

"I stand corrected," Temari said to Kankuro. "The blonde one was the weakest genin."

"The name's Yamanaka Ino!"

Asuma took a lazy drag on his cigarette. "Is there something you sand kiddos want? You're blocking my view of the sun."

Kankuro looked at his older sister. "Let's not waste any more time," said Temari.

He nodded. "The Kazekage wants to see you, Haruno Sakura. He ordered us to bring you back to the Palace."

_The Kazekage!_ "Why?"

"Damned if I know. For old time's sake, maybe." Kankuro grinned.

"Is this serious?" Asuma asked.

"Yeah," Temari said.

"Then you better go, Sakura. Now."

Sakura looked back. Asuma, Ino, Chouji, Anake were all staring at her. Then she turned to look at Temari and Kankuro. They really did seem serious. _What could Gaara want with me? _"Okay."

"Try to keep up," Temari said.

They ran across the rooftops of Suna toward the Kazekage Palace. It would not do to keep him waiting.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER SIXTEEN: "Kindness At All Cost"**

**Author's Note: **My response to Koko7180's review:

_**Koko7180**: "Just something really quick, the kanji in Gaara's forehead was meaning love, I think. Also, the surnames of the Sand sibligs are Sabaku, as Sabaku no Gaara, etc..."_

Yeah, I know the kanji means "Love," but "Kindness" is kind of the same word and it works better (because the next chapter is called "Kindness At All Cost").

The sand siblings actually don't have a last name in the canon. "Sabaku no Gaara" means "Gaara of the Sand Waterfall," it's sort of like a nickname. But actually I think "Sabaku" works better as a last name than "Subashi", so I changed it. Thanks for the suggestion :D


	16. Kindness At All Cost

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: "Kindness At All Cost" **

* * *

The Kazekage Palace was in the eastern district of the village, built atop a promontory of high windswept rock. Sakura and the Sand Siblings entered the Palace now. A team of Konoha ANBU met them in the foyer. Sakura recognized them as the First ANBU Team; or at least she recognized three of the members. Saint, Rhino, the Captain. She didn't know the fourth masked ninja, the replacement for Beater. She hadn't seen the ANBU squad since the mission a month and a half ago, and as far as she knew they hadn't been part of the Embassy. _Why are they in Suna? _

"Captain," Sakura said, bowing.

"Sakura." The Captain's carved mask, painted like the jaws of a wolf, was expressionless. He gestured to the fourth ANBU. "This is Ink."

Ink's voice was a jagged rasp, his mask a torrent of black water. "The daughter of the Demonslayer. It is good to meet you."

"Follow me," the Captain said. "The Kazekage is waiting."

Sakura was not sure why a Konoha ANBU team would be escorting her to the Kazekage. She looked at Temari and Kankuro, who also seemed puzzled. They followed the ANBU deep through the recesses of the Palace into a dimly-lit room with metal walls. The walls were apparently covered with some sort of scrollwork, though not any that Sakura understood. There was no furniture in the room but a few chairs, some medical equipment, and a table.

Lying on the table was a body covered with a white sheet, and standing behind the table were two figures. One was a man, Akasun Baki, the strongest jounin in Suna. The other was a boy with skin white as chalk.

"Haruno Sakura," Sabaku Gaara said. "I need your help."

Sakura bowed low to him as befit his illustrious rank. "Of course, Kazekage-sama."

"_Kazekage_. Even you call me that now. Is that what I am? But maybe only to my face. I know what they call me when I'm not looking. Demon… monster… that's all I am to them. They only made me Kazekage to better control me. They hate me. And maybe they should."

"Gaara, stop," said Temari. "We don't hate you."

"I know, sister. But she does." Gaara looked at Sakura. "Did Naruto tell you I changed? Did he tell you I'm trying to be… to be _kind_ now?" He closed his eyes and recited a sutra from the Kiyome sacred texts, one of the teachings of the Sage of Six Paths. Sakura knew the sutra well:

_There is not even a moment of calmness  
In the heart of this passing life  
The wind is already blowing  
Through the hollow of our bones.  
Oh, God, we yearn for Kindness—  
Kindness at all cost. _

Sakura remembered Gaara, crazed and psychopathic, trying to kill her and Sasuke. Gaara had pinned Sakura to a tree in a cage of sand. Ever so slowly the sand tightened around her ribcage, like a sadistic boa constrictor, crushing her to death. But yes, Naruto had told her that he had changed after that fight. And he had assisted in the mission to bring Sasuke back, saving Rock Lee's life. What was she to think of that? She looked now into Gaara's black-rimmed eyes, tried to find the kindness he claimed to follow. But she still saw only death.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," Gaara said. "For what I did."

Sakura bowed. "Kazekage-sama." She wasn't sure what to say.

Kankuro laughed. "Well… now that we got that touching reunion out of the way… what's this all about? What do you want with our little cherry blossom here, Gaara?"

Now Akasun Baki spoke. "We have discovered a very disturbing conspiracy in the village. Look closely." With one strong motion he reached down and pulled the white sheet off of the body on the table. It was the naked corpse of a young man, dark and gaunt, maybe in his late twenties. There weren't any visible signs of injury except for one.

The corpse had no eyes.

"That's the Akatsuki assassin that tried to kill the Queen of Torment yesterday," Temari said, seriously troubled.

"Yes," Gaara said. "Did you see what jutsu the assassin used to attack her?"

Sakura had seen. The sudden explosion from out of nowhere, the golden steam that lingered after the explosion, the wave of heat. There was only one jutsu that could do something like that. She had looked it up. "It was Bakudan," she said. "The most powerful technique of the Enshogan."

The Enshogan. _The_ _Heat Seeing Eye_.

The Enshogan, one of the three great doujutsu of the world, along with the Sharingan and the Byakugan. The Enshogan, the bloodline power of the Sougon clan that ruled over Iwa. Those who possessed the eye had the power to see heat itself, the power to control the heat around them. Of all the jutsu granted by the Enshogan one of them was the most infamous, the most feared of all. A jutsu which allowed the Enshogan user to so rapidly raise the temperature of a chosen target that all the target's molecules were ripped apart at once. The ultimate assassination jutsu, Bakudan. It was nearly instantaneous, uncounterable, requiring only the user to be within visual range of the target. There was no possible defense except to be fast enough to dodge, or to evade the explosion in the first place. Beater had been too slow.

But if the assassin had used Bakudan, where were his eyes?

"Did you remove the eyes?" Sakura asked.

"No," Gaara said. "Come see for yourself." He gestured toward the body on the table.

Sakura stepped forward, running her hands over the assassin's corpse with the Shousen medical jutsu. Now she saw what it was that had killed him. His brain had melted into a black goo, the result of activating a seal placed on the back of his skull. The assassin must have committed suicide when he realized his attack on the Hokage had failed. He had destroyed his brain and all the information in it. As for his eyes…

"Someone removed the Enshogan eyes from the body after death," Sakura said. "No, only one eye. The right one. The left one was… missing, even before the assassination attempt." There was something suddenly familiar about the corpse now. She looked closely at the left eye socket. The socket was damaged from an earlier wound, a kunai thrust, which had destroyed the left Enshogan. Judging from the bone growth the assassin had lost the eye a few months ago. A month and a half ago.

"Do you know him?" the ANBU Captain asked softly.

Sakura nodded. It was the suitcase ninja from the mission. His eyes had been dark and slitted, and he had been so close she could see the inflamed network of blood vessels coiled around his pupils. "Die!" he screamed, and then his eyes were gold flames. He would have killed her, but Asuma had taken the Bakudan blast instead. "That's one ape down," the Sougon laughed. She had thrown a kunai through his left eye. He shrieked and stumbled out of the grove of burning trees, fleeing blindly. Afterwards, after Sakura had looked up what Bakudan was and acquainted herself with the Sougon clan of Iwa, she told herself that she would find the suitcase ninja and kill him. But he was already dead.

"Yeah," Sakura said. "I know him."

Gaara stared at her. "The right Enshogan was stolen from the body last night. From inside Intelligence Division headquarters." Gaara let the implications of that fact sink in for a bit. It meant that it wasn't just a lone assassin. There were other assassins, co-conspirators. In Suna itself.

"Traitors," Temari spat. "Akatsuki spies."

"We've been hunting the assassins for weeks," said the ANBU Captain. He glanced at Sakura. "Our old friends from before. Three Iwa missing-nin, all Sougon. We lost track of them when they entered the Wind Country a few days ago. Looks like at least one turned up here, probably all of them. They're definitely being aided by a high-level Suna conspiracy. The conspiracy's goals are unclear, but the political situation in Suna is not. The UC is deeply unpopular, as is the Kazekage himself. If they can assassinate either the Hokage or the Kazekage, Suna won't be able to join the UC."

"They hate me," Gaara said. "They thought they could control me… but they were wrong. The only way for them to fix their mistake is with my death."

"If the conspirators already include Sougon, then why risk stealing the Enshogan? What do they want with another eye?" Sakura asked.

"Perhaps the other Sougon are not in the village, or perhaps the Suna conspirators have their own plan," Baki said. "In any case we believe that the eye was not just removed. It was _implanted_."

Temari nodded slowly. "Someone in Suna put the Enshogan in his own body. It could be anyone!"

The Captain spoke. "Like the other kekkei genkai doujutsu, a non-Sougon shinobi can use the Enshogan, but they can't deactivate it. So the Enshogan eye will constantly be leaking chakra. In theory it should be possible to track the chakra signature of the eye right to the source. That's where you come in, Sakura."

_So that's what they want! I fought the assassin before, healed his attack on Asuma, so I know what his Enshogan's chakra is like._

Sakura shook her head. "The chakra leaked will be too insignificant to detect. Maybe the chakra residue… but you'd have to wait a day for the residue to form. And in a hidden ninja village it'd be almost impossible to distinguish the specific chakra residue from the hundreds of others. Only a chakra sensor who had felt the specific Enshogan eye's chakra before could do it. Maybe one of the Suna medic-nin who performed the autopsy—"

"I don't trust them," Gaara said. "Only Baki-sensei and my brother and sister. And you."

"I'm not a chakra sensor," Sakura said.

Akasun Baki seemed to smile. "But I am."

"I told you I needed your help, Haruno Sakura. You're the only one who knows the stolen Enshogan chakra. With a chakra sensor, can you follow the trail?" Gaara asked.

This time she did not hesitate.

"Yeah," Sakura said.

Sabaku Gaara stared at them. "Then this is your mission," he said. "Baki-sensei... Temari... Kankuro... Sakura. Track these traitors down. And then destroy them in my name… in the name of the Fifth Kazekage of the Sand."

Kankuro laughed. "When we're through with them, they'll have flies walking across their eyeballs."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER ****SEVENTEEN****: "****Weapons of War****"**


	17. Weapons of War

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: "Weapons of War"**

* * *

"The Hokage exploded right here," Temari said, gesturing to a spot in the ground with her huge fan weapon. The four of them, the investigative team, had returned to the canyon where the original attack had taken place. The Enshogan chakra residue would be the most intense here, the easiest to detect. It was almost sundown, a day later.

Akasun Baki nodded. "Kankuro, set up a perimeter. No surprises."

Kankuro twisted his hands and his two puppets, Karasu and Kuroari, sprung from his back into protective positions circling the team. The puppets segmented into multiple sections, spreading out and setting up traps. He grinned. "Perimeter secured. Like an elephant trying to sneak up on a snake, Baki-sensei."

"You should pray that is the case. The conspirators are aware we are trying to track them down—we will be targeted." Baki was a study in solidity, his face and voice and posture as if cut from rough hewn stone. The white turban cloth that covered the left side of his face flapped in the wind. "Touch my hand, Sakura. It's time to begin the hunt for the assassins."

Sakura reached her hand over to clasp Baki's own. A rush of alien chakra flowed into her arm, up through her body and into her brain. There was a sudden sharp pain—the lingering damage from opening the chakra gates—as Baki's chakra aggressively mixed with her own. The chakra coalesced into a sort of spiritual cable that bound their two minds as one. Now Sakura could sense what Baki was sensing, and vice versa. With the connection came a new awareness.

"I see it," Sakura said. All around her she _saw chakra_. Not just subconsciously as all ninja sensed it, but as a visible phenomenon, palpable. The sensation was overwhelming. It was as if a new layer had been overlaid on the physical world, similar to color, but as far beyond color as it was to black-and-white. When she looked at Temari, one kind of this "chakra color" flowed through her body; when she looked at Kankuro, a subtly different, but clearly distinct, kind of chakra flowed through his. And the chakra didn't just have "color," but also a sort of "texture" and "weight" and even "sound." All these qualities together combined to form the "feeling" of chakra which a chakra sensor could perceive. Through Baki now she had it too.

"Can you identify the Enshogan chakra residue?" Baki asked.

Sakura looked at the spot where the Hokage had been attacked with Bakudan. Like every other place in the village it was covered with chakra residue, a faded dust that floated in the air and carpeted the ground in dense pools. Of course; Suna was a shinobi village and the ninja in it used chakra constantly. There were at least hundreds of distinct chakra residues in the spot, all layered together and confused. _Which one is the Enshogan? _

She shook her head. "I can't tell. There's too much other stuff."

"The residue will have formed by now. It is there." Baki's chakra surged again into her mind, invading it. Over half of the chakra "colors" in the spot seemed to fade away. _Baki-sama's blocking them out for me_, she realized. _Those are the residues he already knows. _Now the picture was much clearer, each thread more distinct. "Focus on the Enshogan," the Suna jounin continued. "Remember what the Enshogan chakra felt like."

Sakura tried to remember. As a former medic-nin her chakra awareness was far deeper than a typical ninja, but it paled in comparison to that of a true sensor. The Bakudan attack had left a haze of golden steam, but she didn't think that was the true "color" of the chakra. No, that was not what she felt when she had thrust her hands into Asuma's chest. Black, she thought. Black and smooth and hollow and cold like a vacuum. Cold like all the heat in the world had been sucked away.

Long minutes stretched by as she concentrated.

_There. _Suddenly she saw it. Almost nothing, really, like bubbles scattered across the ocean. She had only found it because some of the chakra had clumped up in the wet mud of the bunshin the Hokage had used to absorb Bakudan.

"Yes," Baki said. "That's it. Good work." He held his finger to his wireless earpiece and spoke into it. "This is Baki. We've identified the Enshogan chakra residue. Pursuit will begin immediately."

The four of them were all wearing wireless radios. Now the Konoha First ANBU Captain spoke into them on the other end. "Be careful. We have reason to believe that Akatsuki high command, including Yasunari Zetsu, is directly involved in this conspiracy. Yamato out."

"Come," Baki said to Kankuro and Temari, slipping his grip out of Sakura's hand and into theirs. Sakura was surprised to find that she could still sense chakra even when the connection was broken. Baki explained: "I 'charged' you with enough of my chakra to have a limited sensing ability for about a day. I am doing the same with the rest of the team. If we are incapacitated, you must continue the hunt."

"I'd rather she just try not to get me, uh, incapacitated," Kankuro said.

"I understand, Baki-sama," Sakura said, ignoring the puppet boy.

"Good. We are a day behind. There is no time to waste. Follow me." The Suna jounin suddenly ran and leapt into the air, vaulting over tall sandstone cliffs. The three subordinates pursued. The sun was copper red as it sank violently beneath the jagged horizon, like molten metal dipped into black ice. Soon it would be night.

"Try to keep up," Temari said.

Sakura knew that Baki was heading for Intelligence Division headquarters. She could even sense the trail he was following—tiny puddles of cold hollow Enshogan chakra residue that had collected on various undersurfaces of the village, rooftops, cliffsides. The dead Sougon, she realized. When he died his eye must have still have been turned on, and the damn thing continued to leak chakra afterwards. Still the amount of chakra residue formed by now must have been trivial. They would never have sensed it if they didn't already know what they were looking for.

The headquarters of Suna intelligence was a long, narrow building built into the edge of a cliff. Wisps of smoke were still steaming out of a hole in the side. "Traitors," Baki said. "They used some sort of fire that burns through rock. We can't put it out."

"Delightfully nasty. Where can I get one?" Kankuro asked.

"Ask Ryokan Mukade," Temari said, laughing. "I'm sure he'd be pleased to give you some fire in exchange for our little brother's head."

"A shameful thought, sister. Why, for my brother's head I'd take nothing less than an Enshogan eye myself."

_Ryokan Mukade is one of the Suna High Councilors_, Sakura thought. If she remembered right, Mukade had ran for Kazekage after December 7th but narrowly lost the job to Gaara. _Is that who they think is behind this conspiracy_?

A number of Suna ANBU guarded the building, but they waved them through when they saw Baki. They went in the hole and down through a nondescript corridor into a medical lab, where Suna intelligence had been doing an autopsy of the Sougon body. The lab's doors were made of thick steel, but they hadn't been forced open by the thieves. They had simply been unlocked. An inside job, and a fast one. The thieves had probably blown their way out of the building before anyone knew what was happening.

"There's a bunch of Enshogan chakra residue on the floor here," Sakura said. "Not as dense as in the Bakudan attack, but more volume."

Baki nodded. "That is when they removed the eye from the body. Active doujutsu are chakra furnaces. There must be a great amount of chakra still in there, and without a body to drain the excess it is spilling out into the environment instead."

"And making the trail easy for us to follow," Temari said. "I bet they tried to implant the eye as soon as possible."

"Let us pray not," Baki said.

But Temari was right. They chased the chakra trail away from Suna Intelligence headquarters east, deep into the border between the eastern and northern districts. "The richest part of our village, such as it is," Kankuro told Sakura unprompted. "I'm not saying you can compare it to Hashirama Square or anything like that."

Hashirama Square had been half-wrecked into rubble (thanks to Kankuro and his fellow sand-nins), but it was still more impressive than anything Sakura had yet seen in this place. _Even our ruins are finer than their greatest structures_, she thought. With the partial exception of Sawara, the Wind Country was desperately poor, and Sunagakure had not escaped its country's fate. Here the Enshogan trail led past blocks of brick and stone buildings, banks, restaurants, schools, upper-class houses, almost pathetically mediocre, until it came to the doorstep of a small store and suddenly disappeared.

Above the store was carved the plaque, WEAPONS OF WAR.

"The best puppet shop in Suna," Kankuro said. "I go here all the time."

"And the most expensive one," Baki said. "Come." He swept through the door. The inside of the store was actually made of wood, a testament to its wealth. Shelves of violent merchandise hung from the walls: puppet weapons, puppet parts, puppet traps, and even some complete puppets. Kankuro, who carried his two puppets on his back, looked like he was home. The boy sidled up to the two clerks at the counter for a chat.

"The trail stops here," Sakura said. "It just disappears in the middle of the floor. Do you think the conspirators implanted the eye into someone?"

"Yes," Baki said. "And better than that. They must have disguised the eye with puppet parts. A puppet plate, or even a puppet face."

Sakura suddenly noticed that the two clerks were limp on the ground and Kuroari's limbs were clutched around their heads, like the puppet was feeding on them. Kankuro moved his fingertips to control the puppet through the attached chakra strings. "Mindwiped," he said matter-of-factly. "They were here last night but don't remember anything."

"How were they mindwiped?" Baki asked.

"Same way I'm mind reading 'em. Puppets… you know, not that I'm accusing, but the Old Ratface is an expert puppet master."

"Old Ratface?" Sakura asked.

"Ryokan Mukade," Temari said. "And I _am_ accusing. This whole plot smells just like him."

"Maybe Ratface put the Enshogan in himself," Kankuro suggested. "If you do it the right way puppetry could hide the eye from a chakra sensor or a jutsu scan, even from the Byakugan. He could just walk up to Gaara and BANG! we'd finally find out whether our little brother can regenerate his head the same way he can his limbs. I suspect not."

"What do we do now?" Temari asked.

Baki was in regular contact with the rest of the investigators. He had been talking into his wireless earpiece, and now he said, "I informed the Kazekage of the situation. He is not surprised. We anticipated the conspirators would try to implant the eye in someone that we trust. Mukade, if he is involved, would not be so stupid as to think he himself could get close to the Kazekage. The assassin is someone else; though we do not know who." He stroked his chin in thought. "However, we have one advantage. Time is on our side. If the assassin does not act soon, he will certainly be exposed. And no puppet disguise can stop all the Enshogan chakra leakage. The trail of residue is still here, only fainter and harder to identify. Focus, all of you, and you shall see it."

_Still here? _Sakura concentrated. _Yes…_ there the residue was, leading away from the puppet shop, going southwest. It was so faint that it took her full attention to even vaguely feel. "I see it," she said.

"I don't!" Temari said, frowning. Kankuro nodded his head.

Baki seemed surprised. "It appears Sakura has superior chakra awareness to the two of you." The two Sand Siblings stared at her in wonderment. They probably had never imagined Sakura was better than them at anything.

"Try to keep up," she said as she walked from the store.

The trail was really a lot harder to follow now. Even with Baki leading the way, it was slow going. The clumps of chakra residue that made up the trail were sparser than the oases in the Hiroi desert. The good thing was that whoever the assassin was, he was apparently heading steadily west and then south, so that when they lost the trail they could usually pick it up again after a while. But it was hours before they came to the place the assassin had visited next.

It was a casino, deep in the slums of Suna, surrounded by seedy nightclubs and massage parlors. The desert night was cold, but inside the casino was almost unbearably hot. Garish neon signs flickered on the walls, and hundreds of men shouted and pressed against each other in the excitement of gambling. There were all kinds of games, but by far the most popular one was some kind of throwing dice game similar to roulette.

Amazingly, Sakura spotted Asuma in a corner of the casino. He seemed drunk and was openly fooling around with several women as well as playing roulette. Asuma didn't appear to notice her. _What the hell is Asuma-sama doing here? _

"Damn casinos. I still don't get why shinobi of all people like them so much," Temari said. What she said was true. It looked like most of the men gambling were sand-nin.

"Testosterone-driven thrill seekers," Baki said, his voice dripping with disdain. "They make a little money from going on a mission, then come here and spend it all between missions. That is if they are lucky. If something goes wrong one night they go into debt, even into poverty. Many become depressed, disaffected, and desperate. Ripe targets for Akatsuki recruitment. All of these so-called shinobi ought to have their fingernails gouged out."

"Not just shinobi. I hear Tsunade the Princess loves gambling," Kankuro said, laughing.

"The assassin must have come here to meet someone," Sakura said, ignoring Kankuro. "Look, there's some chakra residue leading into the back hallway."

Akasun Baki charged forward. They followed him into the large casino office complex. Baki seemed to be looking for something, because he went methodically from room to room blowing holes in the walls and floor. None of the casino workers dared disturb him. At last the floor of the one of the rooms collapsed, revealing a hidden trapdoor. The trapdoor led into an underground tunnel.

"There are many natural tunnels and caves underneath Suna," he said. "Of course traitors would try to use them."

They made their way through the tunnel for about a hundred meters before it ended at another trapdoor. Baki blasted his way through, leaping into a small room. There was a sound and a man tried to run away through the front door, but Baki caught him by the throat and forced him down. It was a Suna genin. "Where's the Enshogan eye?" Baki shouted.

The captured ninja whimpered, shaking his head, and suddenly his eyes started to melt into a repulsive black liquid. "Shit!" Sakura said, leaning over the ninja to use Shousen. "He's got the same kind of seal in his skull as the other one. There must be a suicide trigger. His brain is already goo."

Baki let the dead man go with a sigh of disgust and turned to study the room they were in. It looked like it was part of the ninja's apartment. They canvassed the rest of the apartment, but there was no one else there, and not much of obvious interest. The man appeared to live alone, and considering he was still a genin at his age—with the salary that implied—he couldn't afford to live better.

"A poor motherfucker," Kankuro observed. "Might've been working for Akatsuki just for some extra money. Though on the other hand, that doesn't explain why he killed himself."

"Poverty and true belief," Baki said. "A powerful combination."

"It was a woman," a voice said behind them. They turned.

Sarutobi Asuma walked out of the tunnel, smoking a cigarette and grinning. "He was obsessed with one of the girls working at the casino. All over each other. But the girl wouldn't marry him until he could get promoted to chuunin. He had a job working in Suna intelligence… medical division. Heard something got stolen out of that division recently." Asuma shrugged. "It looks like we meet again, kiddos. And Akasun… you look good. How's that scar I gave you last December doing?"

"Fine. How is the scar I gave _you_?"

Sakura was dumbfounded. "Asuma-sama, what're you doing here?"

"Oh, the usual. Gambling… drinking… spying on Akatsuki on the Hokage's orders. I was here last night, too. Amazing what you can find out in two nights talking to drunk men. And as it so happens I did see someone suspicious talking to the dead man on the floor over there."

"The assassin?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I don't know who the assassin is. But I did see someone else… a short little man with rich silk robes… arms like a spider… face like a rat…"

"Ryokan Mukade!" Kankuro cried. "I knew it!"

"Treachery! He's openly moving against us," Baki said.

Asuma laughed. "So you guys are following the Enshogan chakra trail, huh? What are the odds that the trail is gonna lead straight from here to Mukade's personal office at the High Council?" He took a drag on his cigarette. "Anyone want to gamble on it?"

"I suppose the Hokage wishes for you to come with us, Sarutobi?" Baki asked.

"Yeah," Asuma said.

"Then let us proceed. The hunt continues."

Baki sped off, once again chasing after the chakra residue of the stolen Enshogan eye. The rest of them followed. From the casino, the trail slowly headed north. But the trail did not, as Asuma predicted, lead to the High Council chambers. Instead it ended at a sprawling, ramshackle military barracks. This barracks was very familiar to Sakura.

It was familiar because last night she had been sleeping in it.

Kankuro stared. "Is that… the Konoha camp barracks?"

It was.

"Huh," Asuma said. "Didn't see that one coming."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: "Of Her Bloody Hands"**

**Author's Note:** This is a reply to Vainly Hopeful's review:

**_Vainly Hopeful:_**_ "Akatsuki in this story seem to have a lot more members than in the anime, so I'm just wondering where the canon ends and AU begins. I noticed Zetsu has a last name in this story, but would that really be right since he's just a creation made by Tobi or something? Then again, these bits of information were released in manga rather recently.  
_

_"[Also], is Tobi/Madara in this story? Is Akatsuki's main objective still the same as canon? (Gathering all the bijū to reawaken the jūbi, Tobi wanting to become its jinchūriki for his Eye of the Moon plan, etc.)"_

Akatsuki is more or less the same as in the canon. I say "more or less" because as you point out there are a couple of discrepancies (mainly due to Kishimoto's incessant meddling). When I started writing WILL OF STONE, Zetsu didn't have a background yet, so I made him a member of the Yasunari clan of the grass village. A couple years later Kishimoto decides that Zetsu is actually a plant clone of the First Hokage... *shrug.* BTW the same thing happened with my versions of Iwa and Kumo, which are totally different from the canon.

Now, I could go back and change everything to make it consistent. But why bother? There's the canon universe and there's WILL OF STONE. They're similar, but not the same. If you keep that in mind then you won't have issues with the story.

Yes, Akatsuki's long-term objective is the same as in the canon. That's actually an important plot point later. A number of Akatsuki members, including Tobi/Uchiha Madara, will appear as well.


	18. Of Her Bloody Hands

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: "Of Her Bloody Hands"**

* * *

"Okay, so let's say the assassin is a sand-nin… or a ninja from anywhere besides Konoha. How's he gonna get into the Konoha barracks?" Kankuro asked.

"He's not," Asuma said. "No other villages are allowed into the barracks and the whole security perimeter is stuffed with Hyuugas. And I can't think of a reason the assassin would want to come here."

"To assassinate someone?" Kankuro said. "The Hokage?"

Temari laughed. "This was yesterday night. Is anyone dead?"

"Maybe he knows we're tracking him. Trying to throw us off," Sakura suggested.

"Or… the more likely chance… our assassin wears a Leaf forehead protector," Temari said. "Now why would a leaf-nin go back to his own barracks at night? I'd guess… running around stealing Enshogan all night must be tiring. Even assassins deserve a little sleep."

"And hey, it's night again! The one-eyed bastard could be sleeping there _right now_," Kankuro said.

Meanwhile Asuma and Baki were conferring with others through the wireless radio. Asuma informed them, "It's confirmed, no person from another village entered the barracks either yesterday or today. The chief of U.C. Embassy intelligence is meeting us in the main entrance lobby to aid the investigation." He gestured to the sand-nins. "You three can come in, the chief's signed off on it."

The chief of intelligence on the Embassy was Yamanaka Inoichi, Ino's father. Inoichi was a hard-looking man with ever-suspicious, roving eyes. Sakura had always thought that Ino took after her mother.

"I've put the base on lockdown," Inoichi said. "No can leave until they've been thoroughly interrogated. We are all suspects. That means you"—pointing to Sakura—"you"—pointing to Asuma—"and me."

Asuma grinned. "I think we can leave Sakura out of this."

"I have intel teams starting the interrogations as we speak," Inoichi continued. "Meantime your team should continue to follow the Enshogan chakra and see where it goes. We'll proceed along both these directions at once."

Baki nodded. "I sense some chakra residue here, but it is miniscule and random. The assassin did not stay for long. It is unlikely we will be able to pinpoint his specific route."

"If he didn't stay, then he was here for something else," Temari said. "A meeting… contact with another spy…"

"Are there any?" Asuma asked Inoichi. "Akatsuki spies that intel knows about."

"No. We kept everyone suspicious out of the Embassy. But there's reason to believe that some of our battle plans were leaked to Akatsuki before the Hokage's attack on Rain Country HQ. So like I said… we're all suspects. Keep in contact, and good luck."

The Konoha special jounin shook his head and walked away. The team quickly went to work examining the traces of Enshogan chakra scattered around the barracks. The barracks was basically an old, rusted military apartment complex of sandstone walls and metal doors. It had been given to the Konoha Embassy delegation as their living quarters in Suna (the Ame delegation stayed close by in another complex). Since among the team only Baki and Sakura could detect the faint residue, they split up into two groups. Asuma and Kankuro tagged along with Sakura as she searched the north end of the barracks.

There wasn't much for her to find. And half the time she wasn't sure whether the tiny fragments she found were actually Enshogan chakra, or something else that sort of felt the same. It wasn't so much a trail as a random dispersion. Eventually, though, she came across a weird clump of Enshogan residue below some overhanging apartments. The residue itself was nothing special, but there was something… _mixed_ into it. Like they had been deposited at the same time. But Sakura couldn't figure out what it was.

She called Baki over on the wireless. When Baki saw it he seemed surprised. "That is blood," he said.

"Blood?"

"What you are sensing is superheated blood fused with the chakra residue. Highly unusual. In this case it appears that the heat powers of Enshogan were the cause. As the Enshogan raised the temperature of the blood, certain elements in the blood bonded with the chakra, leaving a fused residue."

"Are you saying someone was attacked here? With Bakudan?" Temari asked.

"Bakudan, or a similar jutsu."

Sakura didn't understand. _The assassin attacked someone? Then why wasn't it reported? Was it another spy? But why would he use Bakudan on another spy? Or did the assassin somehow hit himself? _"Can you figure out whose blood it is?" she asked.

"No. All the DNA is denatured. But this kind of fused chakra could not have traveled far from where it was originally formed." Baki glanced up at the rows of apartments above where they had found the residue. "Whose rooms are those?"

"Our medical staff is staying there," Asuma said.

Baki closed his eyes, concentrating. For a long moment he was silent. Then he said, "I sense there is someone on the third-floor room who is injured."

Asuma frowned. "That's… my cousin's room. Sarutobi Iniden."

The team went up to the third-floor. Asuma knocked at the thin metal apartment door. A young, smirking man with the classic Sarutobi-like goatee answered the knock. "Asuma-senpai! It's like two in the morning. What are you doing here?"

"I want to talk. Can we come in?"

"Uh… sure." Iniden seemed a little reluctant, but let them in.

His room had four cots, but three were empty: he lived alone. There was a desk in one corner scattered with various books and papers, and a military rucksack in another. A Konoha forehead protector hung from a bedpost. Iniden himself hung back and watched them carefully. Sakura noticed he had a thick bandage wrapped around his hand.

"What happened to your hand, Iniden?" Asuma asked.

"Oh. Training. Got hurt by accident." He grinned.

"Let me see it," Baki said.

"Uh… no disrespect, sand-nin… but who are you?"

"Let him see it," Asuma said.

Iniden's smile faded. "What's this about, Asuma-senpai?"

Asuma stared at his cousin. His expression was more serious than Sakura had ever seen it before. "We're looking for a stolen eye. Do you happen to know where it is, Iniden?"

"What? No. I don—"

Baki leaped and slammed Iniden into the ground. The Konoha medic-nin cried out in pain as Baki jammed his fingers into the medic-nin's eye sockets. Baki's other hand grabbed Iniden's injured hand and pried off the bandage. Sakura saw that the palm of Iniden's hand was badly burned. Burned black.

"He does not have the Enshogan," Baki stated calmly. "But the wound on his hand was indeed caused by an Enshogan attack—"

"Fucking bastard!" Iniden shouted. He tried to stab Baki in the stomach with a kunai.

Kankuro's puppets, Karasu and Kuroari, were there in a flash. Kuroari blocked the kunai with its open mouth, and Karasu wrapped its long spider limbs around Iniden's body. Meanwhile Temari raised her fan weapon in front of the leaf-nin—Baki deftly stepped out of the way—and she swung it at him. A violent whirlwind exploded from the fan into Iniden, blasting him back through the far sandstone wall into the next room (fortunately empty). Then Karasu dragged Iniden back into their room through the wreckage of the wall. The medic-nin moaned pitifully, his face covered in blood.

Asuma did not seem sympathetic to his cousin's plight.

"Iniden… how could you?" he asked softly. "My own cousin, an Akatsuki spy! Why?"

Iniden shook his head, the only part of his body he could still move. "No, Asuma. You would never understand, would you? The golden boy… the son of the Third… too blind to Konoha's pleasing caresses to see the reality of her bloody hands... her sick crimes!"

"Where is the Enshogan eye, traitor?" Baki demanded.

Sarutobi Iniden laughed, half-mad. He stared up at Asuma, bright robin blue eyes wide. _Like Beater_, Sakura thought. _They were cousins. _

"Ha… haha… hahahaha…you'll never figure out who it is… until it's too late…"

As he finished the leaf-nin's eyes melted into black goo. Iniden had activated the hidden seal in his brain and committed suicide. Kankuro moved his fingertips, and Karasu released its hold on the body. Iniden's corpse tumbled to the floor.

Asuma pulled out a cigarette and lit it with his pocket lighter. He stared down at his dead cousin. Sakura went up to him. "It's okay," she said. The words were stupid even as she said them.

The Leaf jounin actually grinned. "I'm just wondering what I'm going to tell the little bastard's parents. How… troublesome."

Soon Konoha intelligence agents were swarming into the room, led by Inoichi. "Turn this place inside out!" he ordered. "Search everything!" (They also carted out Iniden's body.) Unfortunately there didn't seem to be anything else in the room except books, papers, uniforms, and ninja equipment. Sakura glanced over some of the books in idle interest: a history of tuberculosis epidemics, a treatise on the principles of cellular regeneration, a monograph on neuro-spore infection. Nothing out of the ordinary that a medic-nin wouldn't read. Sakura had seen Iniden before: in the Konoha hospital, on the Embassy in the Rain refugee camps. He'd never seemed like anything but a good doctor.

"Theories!" Inoichi said. "I want to hear them. What happened?"

"We were able to track Sarutobi down due to an injury his hand suffered from an Enshogan attack in an encounter with the assassin," Baki said. "The reason for the attack is unknown. It is possible they got into some kind of conflict, or that the assassin lost control of the eye—a not unlikely scenario for a non-Sougon user. Sarutobi, as a medic-nin, may have participated in the initial implanting of the Enshogan at the puppet shop. Perhaps the assassin went to him for practice controlling the eye."

"But in that case wouldn't there be more chakra residue around here?" Temari asked.

"Unless they shielded it with a chakra projection field, or cleaned it up afterwards," Baki said. "Sarutobi was surprised that we found him. He must have believed that they did not leave enough residue to be tracked. If it were not for the fused blood, he would have been right."

"Chief Inoichi-sama! We found something in the wall," a leaf-nin said. He showed Inoichi a kind of gun-like device. "It's an electromagnetic radiation generator. Looks like it's set to emit gamma waves," the leaf-nin explained.

"Good work, Kuren. Now what could Sarutobi want with a gamma ray generator?"

Nobody had any idea.

Sakura was mystified. The whole investigation so far hadn't made too much sense to her. The actions of the assassin so far were seemingly without logical motive. If he was a Konoha ninja, then it was obvious that he would visit the barracks. But what had he been doing with Iniden? And why had he gone to the casino? The casino was a known Akatsuki hideout; that was why Asuma had been sent to spy there. It would only raise suspicion for a leaf-nin to visit without authorization. Especially if Ryokan Mukade was already there, openly talking with the Akatsuki agent. There wasn't any reason for the assassin to contact the agent if Ryokan was already doing it. Unless Ryokan was the assassin. But that couldn't be, because he couldn't have gotten into the Konoha barracks. Or, the other possibility, Ryokan wasn't involved with the conspiracy at all. But even if that was so, why had the assassin gone to the casino? Logically, the assassin ought to be lying low somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to blow up the Hokage or the Kazekage or another high-ranking official. Why was he running around Suna in the middle of the night?

At that moment there was the sound of a distant explosion. Not in the barracks—further away. Sakura looked out the window as smoke and fire rose from a large round building high in the east.

"The Kazekage Palace!" Kankuro shouted.

"Damn!" Baki said. "Report!" He was speaking into his wireless.

Now the First ANBU Captain's voice came into Sakura's ear. "There was an attack on the Palace. The Kazekage is unharmed. We're not sure what caused the explosion, but it wasn't Bakudan. Some sort of clay bomb. One of the Suna ANBU guarding the Palace planted it. Killed himself along with three others."

"Traitors everywhere," Temari hissed.

"I told you, sister. I told you I didn't trust them." Gaara's cold, numbing voice lingered over the radio. "Baki-sensei… what news of the assassin with the stolen Enshogan?"

"We believe it is a high ranking leaf-nin, Kazekage-sama. We have not yet found him. Another day—"

"There's no more time. I know who is behind this… Ryokan Mukade. He's been trying to kill me since the day I was born. I'm tired of all these games… of hide and seek… I want to end this. Put the word out! Convene an emergency meeting of the High Council for dawn today… at _Red Rock Cliff_!"

Kankuro was shaking his head. "Gaara, calm down. Think about this. A High Council meeting will put you and Old Ratface in the same place. And in fuckin' Red Rock Cliff… you wouldn't walk out of there alive! Give us more time. We'll track down the assassins."

"I agree," Baki said.

"You underestimate me, brother. And so does Mukade." Gaara paused. "The decision is made. I want your team to go to the Lighthouse. Try to figure out what Mukade's planning. If you can find the assassins that's even better. Then return to Red Rock Cliff for the Council meeting… those are your orders."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama," Baki said.

"Where is Tsunade?" Gaara asked, apparently to another person listening on the wireless.

"She's a little busy right now," answered a male voice Sakura didn't recognize.

"Tell her to be there at dawn or her Embassy is finished."

"Inoichi, suspend the investigation and mobilize all squads," the unidentified voice said. "Shikaku, liaison with the rain-nin. The full force of the United Countries Embassy will support the Kazekage at Red Rock Cliff. I'll inform the Hokage."

"Yes, Inishu-sama!" Inoichi said. _It's Sarutobi Inishu_, Sakura realized. _The Embassy field commander, head of the Sarutobi clan… and Iniden's father! Does he know about his son?_

She looked at Asuma, and Asuma caught her questioning glance. Asuma shook his head silently. _Not yet_, he mouthed. _Not now._

Over the wireless, it was Gaara that had the last word. "May God be with us on this Day of Kindness," he whispered. There was a dramatic silence.

Back in the room, Inoichi and his intelligence agents strode out, busier with more important tasks. Team Baki, Sakura, and Asuma also headed off. Gaara had ordered the five of them to go to the Lighthouse to continue their hunt.

The Lighthouse. You could see it from any vantage point in Suna. It was at the center of the village, a sheer tower of smooth gray stone, carved from the canyon peak itself. Certainly it was the most famous landmark in Suna. But in truth the Lighthouse had been built after. What had come before was in the mountain below it, in the underground caves where the people who had first come to this place had lived. The Lighthouse was hundreds of years old; but the caves were thousands. And it was the caves that were the real heart of the village. There men made their most sacred worship. There they gathered together to wield power.

Under the Lighthouse were the chambers of the Suna High Council.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER NINETEEN: "The Lighthouse" **


	19. The Lighthouse

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER NINETEEN: "The Lighthouse"**

* * *

The Lighthouse blazed in the dark night.

A column of brilliant white light shone from the top of the Lighthouse in a vertical line, up toward heaven. The pillar of light made the Lighthouse seem as tall as the sky itself. Sakura had never seen anything like it. "What's the light for?" she asked.

"Today is the Day of Kindness… one of the Wind Country's most important holidays," Temari said. "Five hundred years ago today the Sage of Six Paths came to our shores from across the sea. We shine this light to remember that day."

Sakura remembered Gaara's prayer._ Oh God, we yearn for Kindness—Kindness at all cost_. The words unexpectedly overwhelmed her. Did she believe that? That Gaara had really changed? _Kindness at all cost_… but it wasn't kindness that had caused Suna to invade Konoha. It wasn't kindness that had led Gaara and Kankuro and Temari and Baki to try to kill her and everyone she loved. What was the cause, then? Poverty, the Hokage said. Structural flaws in the political and economic system, flaws which could be fixed, defeated through the United Countries organization. But Sakura wasn't so sure. Human action was governed by things far more elemental. _Fear_. Fear and its mute progeny, hatred. They had hated her, and no matter what happened afterwards, could she deny that they still did?

_I see the way they look at me. I see the malice in their eyes. I am an enemy to them._ Suddenly Sakura wondered if Temari and Kankuro, too, could see the way that she looked at them. _Do I hate them? I should, shouldn't I? They tried to kill me! _But she didn't, she realized. No, she couldn't hate someone for being a sinner.

She had too much to answer for herself.

"It is not long to daybreak," said Baki. "Worshippers will already be gathering at the Lighthouse, and in Red Rock Cliff. We must move quickly." The five of them sprinted along the rooftops toward the center of the village. There, under the Lighthouse, a crevasse in the cliff face opened up into a large cave. Rows of long, red, flickering candles along the walls of the cave lit the way forward. As they moved deeper into the cave, Sakura saw that it opened up again into a series of tunnels and caverns. Some tunnels led down, deep underground to the hidden oasis that still remained there, a remnant of an ancient river. _Water_, Sakura understood. In a land where water was more precious than life itself, this place was Suna's most sacred refuge. Even now they could hear the sounds of prayer drift up from below.

But Baki didn't lead them down. Instead they took the tunnels that went upwards. To the mountain peak. The candle flames threw twisting shadows on sandstone walls carved into various religious sculptures. Some of the sculptures were made not of rock but glass. Sakura wasn't sure how glass had come to be embedded in the walls, but the effect of the candlelight on it, the dance of fire and shadow, was extraordinary.

She was so entranced she almost didn't notice that she couldn't sense chakra anymore until Temari pointed it out.

Baki nodded. "There is another chakra sensor close by. He is interfering with your ability to sense chakra. Even I can only sense at limited range now."

"In case anyone is wondering, our radios aren't working, either," Kankuro announced. "The whole network is probably down."

"Two possibilities," Asuma said. "Either they're afraid of what we're gonna find. Or they're leading us into a trap. Or both."

"Just before the interference began, I sensed a clear Enshogan chakra residue," Baki said. 'But it was not from yesterday. It is at least three days old." _Meaning it was from when the original Sougon assassin was still alive!_ The scenarios sped through Sakura's mind. Had the Sougon met Mukade in the High Council chambers to demonstrate his Bakudan jutsu? What about the other two Sougon that had been with him? Were they still here?

At the end of the tunnels, the investigative team came to the Suna High Council chambers.

They were at the top of the mountain, at the base of the Lighthouse. The base had been hollowed out into several connecting chambers: the main High Council conference room, the personal offices and apartments of the High Councilors. Along the walls there were candles, but also long slit windows cut into the rock. During the day the sun would shine through the slits. Eerily, the entire chamber seemed to be deserted. There weren't even any guards. Had the High Councilors already left for Gaara's meeting at Red Rock Cliff? They would have heard of the summons the instant Gaara had made it.

Baki pushed open a heavy wooden double-door. A large, dim cavern greeted them, featureless except for a long conference table in the middle of the cavern. Sakura saw that the table was completely made of glass. It was impossibly thick yet translucent, as if it had been carved from rock and then turned to glass by a touch. The chairs around the table were also made of glass. Carved into the far wall opposite the door was the symbol of Sunagakure, an upside-down hourglass.

For an instant the huge hourglass caught Sakura's breath. _It fits this place well_, she thought. Not like Konoha. Not like the leaf-nins' almost religious hope in the future, the sense that no matter what happened, there always remained the pulse of things coming, there was always more time. No, for the people of Suna, time was like everything else: an immutable quantity, limited and therefore profoundly precious. The wind was already blowing through the hollow of their bones. And the sand in the hourglass was running out.

"So now what?" Kankuro asked. "Are we just gonna stand around with our dicks in our hands? Or, uh, the kunoichi equivalent, whatever the hell that is."

"Wouldn't you like to know, Kankuro," Temari said sweetly.

"Kankuro, a perimeter," said Baki. "The other sensor is very close. I will now attempt to destroy him." The Suna jounin sat down cross-legged on the floor of the conference room, closed his eyes, and made a sequence of extremely fast hand seals. Even with the interference to her senses, Sakura felt an immense aura of chakra start to radiate from Baki's body. It felt swift and furious as the desert wind. Like it was searching for something to destroy.

Long minute after long minute passed.

Suddenly Baki opened his eyes. "Oversurge!" he cried. Sakura couldn't tell that anything had happened beyond his shout, but a moment later she felt her chakra sensing ability return. _Did Baki take out the other sensor-nin somehow? _

"The ceiling," Baki said.

Asuma seemed to understand. "Allow me the honors." He leaped up, chakra blades flying from his trench knives, and slashed at the sandstone ceiling above the conference table. The chakra blades cut clean through the stone, leaving a hole that Asuma blasted open with a roundhouse kick. The others followed through the hole; above it there was another hidden cavern, dark and unlit.

"We're in the Lighthouse tower now," Temari said, looking around.

"Yeah, except this _should_ all be solid stone," said Kankuro.

"A secret chamber. Above the High Council itself!" Baki seemed amazed at the scope of the conspiracy. He walked over to the unconscious body of another sand-nin that lay crumpled up on the floor in the center of the cavern. _This must be the sensor that was fighting with Baki. Looks like he lost. _

"Who is he?" Asuma asked.

"Basho," Baki said, turning over the sand-nin on his back. "We were comrades in the war."

"At least he's not your cousin," Asuma said. He pulled out another cigarette to smoke.

"Look," Temari said, gesturing to three beds and a dresser in a corner of the chamber. "I can feel the Enshogan chakra residue everywhere. I think the Sougon assassins were actually living here… they were planning to assassinate the High Council."

"Until they decided to pick a bigger target and got killed," Kankuro added. "Then they switched plans."

Baki was rifling through Basho's unconscious body and now he pulled out a piece of paper from the Akatsuki spy's closed hand. On the paper was written only three scrawled words: "SLEEPER LOCATION UNKNOWN."

_Sleeper. _Was that the code-name of a person? The assassin? Or was it the name of a place? The name of a plan? It could be anything; there wasn't enough information to tell.

"If anyone knows what that means I'll buy you the Lighthouse," Kankuro declared.

"It means something's wrong," Asuma said. "They're pa—Akasun! DON—"

Sakura whirled around just in time to see it happen. Baki opened Basho's mouth to search for more clues. But a package of dark red clay lined the inside of the mouth. And as the clay met the light it burned.

_A clay bomb!_

Basho's body exploded.

There was a blinding flash of white light. Baki screamed something, but Sakura did not catch it, and then the world flew apart, exploding in an inferno of fire like stitches being ripped off a furnace mouth. She was knocked back in the air, seemed to float in sheer light. Then all of sudden the flash was gone and the girl hit something hard, something which gave beneath her weight and shattered into a thousand fragments.

Sakura's vision swam with purple spots. She groaned, tried to get to her hands and knees. _The clay bomb_. Wildly the girl looked around her. Above her was a yawning chasm, which she dimly recognized as the remains of the secret chamber. The explosion had destroyed the floor of the chamber, and she had fallen down into the conference room below. Blood slithered down one side of her face. Under her hands, in pieces, was the table of glass.

"_Fuuuuuuck_!" a voice shouted to the right of her. Temari. The sand genin clutched her leg. It was broken; a grotesque splinter of white bone stuck out of her thigh.

Sakura started to make over to help her, but then she saw that beyond Temari there was a man lying facedown in the rubble. Baki! One of his arms was gone.

"Goddamn," Asuma said from behind her. "Today is going to suck."

Sakura half-ran, half-crawled over to Baki. Kankuro was already there. "Sakura, heal Baki-sensei!" he ordered, helpless to do it himself. Sakura tried her best. She turned Baki's body over, ran her bloody hands over him with Shousen. It was hard to see in the dark. The explosion had knocked out all the candles. Only dim gray fires from the clay bomb continued to burn, slowly consuming the strewn rock.

But it was not as bad as she feared. Baki was seriously injured, but breathing and stable. His missing arm ended in a metal shoulder socket instead of a human joint—it was a puppet arm, Sakura realized. The smoking remains of the puppet arm lay next to the Suna jounin. Sakura guessed that Baki had somehow used the arm to shield himself (and therefore the rest of them) from the explosion. Considering how powerful the clay bomb was, he had probably saved all their lives.

Baki's remaining hand suddenly reached up and grabbed Sakura's forearm. The grip was so strong he almost broke it.

"_A trap_," Akasun Baki whispered through gritted teeth. "_Someone is coming_."

The jounin pulled himself to his feet by pure will, leaning against Kankuro's shoulder. The white turban cloth that covered the left side of his face had been ripped away. Under it there was a metal puppet plate, mechanical and pulsing with wire.

Baki's puppet eye stared toward the wooden double-doors of the conference chamber.

"Bravo! Bravo!" a voice called from the darkness beyond the doors. "I knew you would survive the trap, Baki! Well, minus an arm or two."

The owner of the voice stepped forward. It was a short little man, in the yellow-dust robes of a Suna High Councilor, and when he smiled his face was like a leathery old rat. Asuma's description had been most apt.

"How did you do it?" Ryokan Mukade wondered. "I surmise you used your puppet arm to create a chakra projection field? Like a shield… the chakra absorbing most of the explosion. Well done, Baki, well done!"

Behind Mukade came more ninja. Most of them wore Suna forehead protectors, but the two ninja at the front were masked in black. A cold chill ran down Sakura's spine; she recognized them from the mission a month and a half ago. _The Sougon missing-nins! They're here!_

"Ryokan Mukade," Baki spat. "Does your base treason reach even here, to this sacred chamber? Tell me! How many traitors are on the High Council itself?"

Mukade seemed surprised by the question. "Why, all of them, of course."

Baki looked puzzled. "_I_ am a member of the High Council."

"Indeed you are! And like I said, _all of us_ would like nothing better than to off the demon boy. Admit it, Baki. I'm just the one with the guts to do it."

"Gaara is fifty times the man you are!" Temari shouted.

"You treacherous filth, you disgust me," said Baki.

"Baki… dear Baki. I'm sorry you feel that way. I have only the utmost respect for you."

One of the Sougons laughed. "He's pretty strong. But I can kill him." His voice was like that of a killer beast of prey, lazy, vastly self-assured. Sakura remembered him as the one who had been smoking the cigar.

"And I'll take care of the rest," the other Sougon said, the big one. "I even remember those two apes from the forest last time. The little girl was the one who shot Myoe in the eye. And I blew up their ANBU friend in exchange… so it was a pretty good trade." _Beater! This was the one who killed Beater!_ Sakura thought.

"No," Mukade said. He seemed to be staring at Asuma. "We have more important things to do. I don't even know why the damn apes are here."

Asuma had been unharmed in the clay bomb explosion. Now he held his trench knives in front of him in battle stance; and his voice was as cold as a dead man's. "To fulfill a promise." He pointed a knife at the big Sougon. "To kill you and to squash your eyes with my bare hands!"

The Iwa missing-nin laughed. They all did.

Mukade chortled. "Not today, dear Sarutobi." He actually put a hand over his mouth to control himself. "Well… love to chat more, but I got a meeting to run to in Red Rock Cliff. And on the Day of Kindness even! How can we miss the festivities? Of course you're invited, too, Baki. But I fear you may not be able to make it. Don't worry. I will be sure to send your regards."

The High Councilor turned away, and the two Sougon missing-nins followed. Asuma looked like he was going to leap after them. But the sand-nins behind Mukade rushed forward, closing ranks to block Asuma's path. The heavy wooden doors slammed shut behind Mukade.

They were trapped inside the conference chamber with no way out. Temari lay on the floor with a broken leg. Baki had one arm and could barely stand. Sakura and Kankuro didn't look too good either. Opposing them, six strong looking (and strong feeling, judging by their chakra) sand-nins unfurled summoning scrolls. Dozens of enemy puppets appeared out of the scrolls in a flash of smoke!

"This looks bad," Asuma said.

"Yeah," Kankuro said. "The bad guys are locked in with us. I feel sorry for them."

Suddenly the rows of long slit windows cut into the walls on either side blazed with silver light. The light flooded into the red sandstone chamber, chasing shadows from every crevasse and every secret place to oblivion. To Sakura it seemed almost as if she were waking in a cage of silver bars.

Over the Lighthouse the dawn sun was rising.

"Fight to Red Rock Cliff!" Baki shouted with all the strength he had left. "In the name of the Kazekage!"

The sand-nin puppeteers attacked! Puppets leapt into the air, segmenting out into dozens of incomprehensible contraptions. A hail of shuriken and kunai and spears and senbon and hooks and scythes and who knows what else rained down on the trapped team.

"Kaze no Yaiba!" Baki cried. _Blade of Wind_! Daggers of wind shot out of his hand at the puppets, slicing half of them to pieces. But the hail of enemy weapons continued nonstop. Baki fell to his knees, near collapse.

Then Asuma jumped in front of them. In his outstretched hand he held Baki's lost puppet arm. A spinning wall of solid chakra radiated outwards from the arm. _A chakra projection field_! The weapons clattered against the chakra field and were stopped.

In the same moment Asuma knelt down to press his hand against the floor. "Kuchiyose!" he shouted. _Summoning technique_! A very large red-assed gorilla burst forth out of the ground, roaring. The gorilla charged forward into the midst of the enemy sand-nin.

"Sakura!" Asuma said. "Use the puppet arm!" He threw the arm to her. Meanwhile his trench knives were already whirling into the enemy puppets.

As she reached to grab the arm Sakura's hand by chance brushed against Asuma's face. _Cold_, she thought. But there was no more time to think. A wooden puppet carved like a scorpion attacked her from behind. Sakura spun to block its striking tail with her chakra-cast kunai. The puppet's tail replied by releasing a hiss of poison gas in her face. _Shit!_ Immediately she blasted out chakra through the tenketsu in her head. The weak chakra field was enough to keep the gas from entering her lungs. Somehow still conscious, Baki cut the puppet in half with his blade of wind.

More shuriken sliced through the air at them. Sakura tried to use Baki's puppet arm to make a chakra projection field like Asuma had. The arm was a chakra conduit and amplifier—a pipe of artificial tenketsu. Even severely damaged, it multiplied the amount of chakra she could pump out from her body. She concentrated—_there_. The shuriken stuck in the chakra shield like it was wet mud.

But the shield wasn't strong enough to stop the spinning scythe that came at her next. The scythe cut through the chakra field effortlessly. She dodged it, but somehow the scythe turned in midair to attack her again. _It's attached to a chakra string!_ she realized. Dimly, Sakura found she could actually sense the chakra string. As the scythe came head on she crouched under it and used the puppet arm to cut the trailing thread. The scythe smashed to the ground, inert metal.

The limited sensor ability she had from Baki's "charge" was giving her a totally new combat awareness. Like a poor man's Byakugan, Sakura could feel the other ninja in the chamber all around her, as well as whatever chakra fields they were generating. The ninja were too fast for her to pinpoint, but she could feel their general area of movement. And she could sense the chakra strings everywhere.

Behind her, Kankuro had attached chakra strings to Temari. Kankuro was using his sister as a puppet! He pulled on the chakra strings and Temari suddenly rocketed through the air above Sakura.

"Cover me!" Temari shouted at Sakura. A dragonfly-like puppet with ten wings swooped down on Temari from the cavern roof, daggers glittering in its gaping mouth.

Sakura leaped. With one hand she flung her chakra-cast kunai, while in the other hand she funneled chakra through Baki's arm to create a shield of chakra. The chakra-cast kunai missed the dragonfly puppet, but Sakura wasn't aiming for it. Pulling on her own chakra rope which she had attached to the handle of the kunai, she changed the kunai's path to slice through the chakra strings behind the puppet. The same instant the puppet slammed into Sakura's chakra shield. Its momentum was enough to break through the shield, crushing what remained of Baki's arm (and nearly taking off Sakura's head), but the impact changed its direction away from Temari.

Temari now had a perfect opening. She raised her giant folding fan weapon above her head, all three of the stars open. The fan burned with swirling white chakra.

"Dai Kamaitachi!" Temari yelled. _Great Wind Scythe Attack! _

A hurricane wind erupted from the fan. The whirlwind shattered not only the heavy wooden double-doors, but the entire far wall of the chamber. Puppeteers and puppets alike were blown into pieces. And then suddenly Sakura sensed that all the enemy ninja were dead.

Asuma was kneeling down next to Baki's unmoving body. "Akasun's not breathing," he said.

Sakura rushed over. "Baki-sama used up too much chakra. We got to get him to the hospital now!"

"No. No time," Temari said, clutching her leg. "The Council meeting in Red Rock Cliff…"

Asuma's gorilla summon was holding the decapitated bodies of two puppeteers, one in each hand. "Go!" the gorilla growled. "I'll take care of your friends."

Asuma nodded. "Thanks, Ranma." He gestured to Sakura and Kankuro. "Let's go!"

The three of them ran due north from the Lighthouse, toward Red Rock Cliff. Mukade was at least ten minutes ahead of them. The sun beat against the red-stained stone, and the wind was rising. Sakura was bruised and exhausted from the Lighthouse battle; blood still trickled down her face from the cut on her scalp. Asuma was right. _Today is really going to suck. _

Red Rock Cliff was Sunagakure's most sacred canyon—it was the place where they buried their dead. The hanging tombs of Red Rock Cliff were as famous as the Lighthouse. But as they neared the canyon she was surprised to see something else rise up out of it. They were paper kites. The kites were of all size and shapes, triangles and rectangles, bananas and watermelons, vultures and spiders and dragons. Thousands of them flew high in the wind above Red Rock Cliff, tethered to the ground by gossamer strings that seemed to flash in the dawn light, as if dusted with diamonds. The kites swooped and dived and danced against each other.

Suddenly the highest flying kite, a red dragon, quivered in mid-swoop and then cratered downwards, disappearing beneath the cliff edge. Like a puppet, the kite's strings had been cut. A dull roar of applause and laughter came from the spectators inside Red Rock Cliff. Sakura realized what had happened. _This is a kite-cutting competition_. The kite strings were coated in broken glass and the winner was the one who kept his kite in the air the longest. The competition would probably last the whole morning.

"How many people are in Red Rock Cliff right now?" she asked Kankuro.

"On the Day of Kindness?" Kankuro shrugged. "Everyone."

"Children?" Asuma asked sharply.

"Everyone. Why'd you think Gaara wanted to hold the Council meeting here?"

The logic was chilling. Gaara wanted as many witnesses as possible to whatever happened. But if what happened was a battle… how many bystanders to Gaara and Mukade's power struggle would be caught in the crossfire? Kankuro's tone was untroubled. _Is this Kindness? _No, of course it wasn't. It was ruthlessness, it was calculation. And in a perverse sense it was strength. The thought occurred to Sakura that Tsunade-sensei would approve.

They reached the cliff edge and started to rappel down. Below them stretched Red Rock Cliff. Square holes dotted the cooper rust-colored walls of the canyon: the famous hanging tombs, the tunnels that led deep inside the stone to the mummified bodies of the Suna dead. Outside, the wind swept up flurries of white sand amongst the gathered worshippers. Children holding kites were everywhere.

In the center of the canyon, in a large circle marked by a glowing black line drawn in the sand, stood Gaara and the various members of the Suna High Council, including Mukade. _A barrier circle, _Sakura realized. A kind of seal that could be used to block certain things from entering or exiting, such as light or sound.

"Yamato's ANBU team must have set up the barrier circle to block heat," Asuma said. "Everyone can see through with normal vision. But the barrier blocks the Sougons from seeing inside with their Enshogan. And if they can't see, they can't use Bakudan."

Kankuro laughed. "So the assassins are useless. The Old Ratface's worst nightmare!"

"No," Asuma mused thoughtfully. "I don't think Ryokan is worried at all. He's too confident. That's why he didn't just kill us back at the Lighthouse."

Asuma's words reminded Sakura of… of what? Suddenly she felt there was something terribly wrong. Something important she was missing.

They had been trapped in the Lighthouse, Baki couldn't fight. Mukade had come personally to finish them off… why didn't he? Asuma thought it was because of arrogance. But that wasn't right, Sakura thought. Mukade had been surprised. Something had been wrong with the plan.

The plan. The note in Basho's hand. SLEEPER LOCATION UNKNOWN. _Sleeper_. The Sleeper had to be a person… the assassin with the stolen Enshogan. Who else would it be? So Mukade didn't know where the assassin was. But why?

Iniden. They had found Iniden's blood mixed with the Enshogan chakra. Had something gone wrong between the two of them? The assassin attacked Iniden's hand. _Why his hand?_Because Iniden was a medic-nin. His hands were close to the Enshogan, were doing something to it… had he been testing the eye? Then it was an accident, maybe. But why was Iniden even involved in the first place?_ No, there's something I'm missing. Something that happened before!_

As Sakura's mind raced to remember the three of them were already running through the heart of Red Rock Cliff. They came to the black barrier circle. Suna, Konoha, and Ame ANBU guards were posted all around the barrier to stop any trespassers. But Gaara saw them and gave the order to let them through.

As soon as Kankuro crossed over the barrier he yelled out to Gaara, "Ryokan Mukade is a traitor! He's hiding the Akatsuki assassins! They just tried to kill us!" This information caused quite a stir. The Councilors muttered among themselves like an excited flock of geese. But Mukade stood there perfectly calm.

Sakura stared at Mukade. _Why? Why is he so calm?_

The Old Ratface, the master puppeteer. He had taken the assassin to a puppet shop. Used puppetry to hide the Enshogan so as to fool a chakra sensor, to fool even the Byakugan. Why? To make the disguise perfect, even at close range. To let the assassin get to the Kazekage face to face. Someone… someone he could trust…

Iniden had laughed. Why had he laughed? _You'll never figure it out who it is until it's too late…_

Sakura had seen the books on Iniden's desk. A history of tuberculosis epidemics, a treatise on the principles of cellular regeneration, a monograph on neuro-spore infection. Nothing out of the ordinary. No, but _why those_ specific books?

_We're all suspects_, Inoichi said.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Gaara speaking with his brother. The First ANBU Team stood guard around him. Some of the Councilors were approaching Gaara with a piece of paper. Asuma was also walking toward Gaara purposefully.

Asuma. Asuma had started this whole train of thought in Sakura's mind. He had reminded her of something. _What? _

The casino. The Enshogan trail had led to the casino, to a known Akatsuki establishment. Why? Why would the assassin go there? It didn't make sense.

Unless… unless they had been at it all wrong. They had assumed the assassin was a traitor. All their logic had been premised on that assumption. But what if the assassin went to the casino… because he was trying to help? Because he himself was part of the investigation. His actions were illogical… seemingly random… because he was trying to find himself. Because he himself _didn't even know he was_ the assassin—a sleeper agent—

At last she remembered. She had touched Asuma's face during the battle.

His face was cold.

_My god, it's Asuma! Asuma has the Enshogan eye! _She whirled around, to warn the others, before it was too late—

Sarutobi Asuma's right eye burned with gold flames.

"Gaara!" Sakura shouted. "Asum—"

BOOM!

The explosion was blinding.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER TWENTY: "Red Rock Cliff, Part One" **


	20. Red Rock Cliff, Part One

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY: "Red Rock Cliff, Part One"**

* * *

BOOM!

The explosion was blinding, a burning orange wave of steam like a furnace. Sakura was thrown back hard into the ground. A lance of numbing pain shot through her head. For a horrible moment she didn't know where she was.

Her eardrums were ringing madly. Her vision was blind, black. She thought maybe she was asleep, or dreaming. She tried to open her eyes. Nothing happened. Then suddenly the blackness before her gave way to blue, something blue as the surface of the sea. _What's that? _she wondered. The blue sea compassed her entire vision. Mysteriously, in the sea there seemed to be floating thousands of odd little boats. Wires dangled from each of the little boats, hanging, twisting in the blue. For some reason the fantasy came to her that the boats were made of paper and that all of them were drowning in the sea and that only she, she of all the ninja in the world, could save them.

"Gaara!" Kankuro screamed, as if from somewhere very far away.

Kankuro's voice broke through Sakura's trance-like daze. _Not boats, _she realized._ Kites. _She was lying on her back in the sand and staring at the sky, filled with flying kites, of Red Rock Cliff.

_Red Rock Cliff. The explosion!_

Sakura raised her head to find that Gaara was gone, and in his place was a steaming crater.

Asuma was turning to her now, his right eye still glowing gold. Suddenly he was tackled from the side by two ANBU, Ink and Rhino. The Bakudan explosion missed Sakura by half a meter. There was a brief struggle, and then Asuma didn't move anymore.

"What the fuck happened?" Rhino shouted, his voice uncomprehending. Sakura tried to respond but her mouth didn't work. Unconsciously she raised her hand from her chest and the hand came away slick with blood.

The Captain was there next to her. "It's all right, Sakura," he said. "Some of your ribs are broken, but it's not a lethal wound. You're just stunned."

"Where's Gaara?" Kankuro screamed again.

"I believe he is blown into bits, dear Kankuro!" a smooth oily voice piped up. Ryokan Mukade, the traitor. Behind him the old men of the Suna High Council were watching warily, making no move to intervene. Mukade cackled in malicious delight. "Our Fifth Kazekage is no more!" he cried.

"Not yet I'm not," a boy's voice said, strained from pain. All turned to look at it.

Mukade's mouth flopped open.

A small form was rising up from the sand, a few meters away from the Bakudan crater. Gaara. Alive. Except he clutched his side, and something red gushed down his left arm and leg. Kankuro rushed over to him. "The ANBU Saint saved my life," he said flatly. "He pushed me out of the way before the Bakudan hit."

"Saint was the only one who saw," Ink said. "He was a Hyuuga… the only one who could've reacted fast enough to Sakura's warning." The ANBU paused. "He's dead."

Rhino turned away.

"What happened to Asuma?" the Captain asked Sakura, helping her to her feet.

"Sleeper… sleeper agent," Sakura managed. "It was Iniden… controlling him… the neuro-spores… must have infected Asuma somehow… Ryokan implanted the eye…"

"_Such a sssmart girl_," a man hissed with a serpent's tongue.

Sakura felt her gut churn. She knew that hiss. At the edge of the barrier circle, a half-white half-black man-thing with jaws like a Venus flytrap was rising out of the sand. The thing was grinning.

"Akatsuki devil!" one of the Councilors spat.

Yasunari Zetsu laughed. "Fools… never ssuspected, did you? My _ssspores_! Nasty little things, once they get into your blood… I infected Sarutobi with them during our last encounter. Hes been under my control for months! The _irony_… is delicious…"

"Too bad it didn't work," the Captain observed.

Zetsu laughed again. "Yes, too _bad_. The girl figured out the ssecret just in time. I supposse… well just have to do it the hard way… wont _we_, Mukade?"

"Yes, we will," said Ryokan Mukade. With confident strides he and his bodyguards walked over to Zetsu, along with over half of the ANBU in the barrier circle. The rest of the High Councilors looked at this display of naked power mutely. Meanwhile the remaining ninja loyal to Gaara closed around him tightly in a protective ring. Outside the barrier, people were scurrying around with great commotion and confused shouts. _They must be wondering what's happening_, Sakura thought. _I bet it doesn't look good. _

Gaara and Mukade now stood at opposite ends of the circle, facing off against each other.

"Mukade," Gaara said, leaning against Kankuro's arm, badly injured. "At last it comes to this. An open coup."

"I regret it came to this, demon," said Mukade.

"No, you would rather assassinate him from the shadows like a coward!" yelled Kankuro. "You haven't the guts, you little rat!"

"By rights the demon ought to have been hanged in his mother's womb fifteen years ago. Instead he lived to bring Sunagakure to the brink of destruction. No more. The fealty to the leaf apes ends here! The ninja of the Sand bow to no man and especially to _no bitch of a woman_!"

Gaara stared with hollow black circles under his eyes at the men around him. "High Councilors… Ryokan Mukade is a traitor and an Akatsuki spy. I am your rightful Kazekage. It is time for you to choose between us. If you move against me now… there shall be no mercy."

The old men on the High Council murmured among themselves. Sakura knew what was happening. They were trying to figure out who would be on the winning side. The wrong choice of ally would be fatal.

One of the High Council members, who looked older than the rest, stiffened his shoulders, adjusted his robes, and then, ever so deliberately, walked toward Mukade's camp. Many followed—more than half. The others Councilors didn't move. Did they think to remain neutral? Impossible. _Baki would have been with Gaara from the start_, Sakura thought. He was the only one.

"The Council is on my side, demon," Mukade said. "By majority vote, in accordance with the laws of the village, we depose you as Kazekage. You have no right to dispute this vote."

Unexpectedly Gaara laughed. "You… haha… you bunch of clowns… you just tried to assassinate me! You dare speak of law!"

"Exile!" one of the Council members who hadn't moved suddenly said. "Mukade… you win. You will be Kazekage. Don't allow this to lead to unnecessary bloodshed. Allow the boy to leave the village peacefully, on his word never to return."

"You soft old fool," the elder Councilor said. "If the demon is not destroyed now he will destroy us!"

"I've heard enough!" another of the Councilors spat. "You've gone too far this time, Ryokan. Making dark pacts with terrorists! We are with you, Kazekage-sama! To the end!"

Mukade chuckled. "At least you have a few old men on your side… and some leaf ANBU… and some genin children. Not enough. Not nearly enough."

"No," said Gaara. "You forgot one thing. I am the leader of Suna… I am Sabaku Gaara of the Desert… and this is my home. And I… have…_ the sand_!"

The sand beneath their feet exploded upwards.

Everything happened simultaneously, too fast for Sakura, her head still dazed, to follow. A tidal wave of sand as tall as Red Rock Cliff surged forward over Mukade and his followers, breaking on the opposite cliff face with a screeching roar. At the same moment, a web of black venom-dripping spikes stabbed through the wave of sand back at Gaara. "Mokuton: Shiro Shussei!" the Captain's voice called next to her. A ten-story high white banyan tree erupted from the sand under Sakura's feet. The hard, white branches of the tree intercepted the web of black thorns, wrapping around them, new branches sprouting out as fast as they could be cut. Just as the tree and the thorns started to attack each other, three giant puppet spiders climbed over the tidal wave of sand. Each of the spiders was as large as an entire building. Their long clawed legs were made of iron; mandibles of diamond waved like fingers in their gaping mouths. The puppet spiders leaped with astonishing speed, landing on the banyan tree and on top of Gaara's sand shield.

Meanwhile Red Rock Cliff was swarming, everywhere, with the sounds of screams. The screams echoed and reechoed against the canyon walls until they shook. Crowds of civilians stampeded out of the canyon in a mob. Abandoned kites zigzagged crazily in the wind. The wind was so strong that many of the kites flew higher, taking with them the glass-coated strings like a leash. The strings whipped uncontrollably in the air, their broken glass edges sharp enough to cut a man's throat. And in the midst of all this chaos ninja fought against each other and killed each other and died, their desperate struggling cries all churned together, one long scream of agony and triumph and rage, staining the hot white sand with blood.

Sakura was with the Captain, Rhino, and Ink inside the canopy of the banyan tree. _Another battle_, Sakura thought. _Again_. Her head throbbed; she had a bad concussion from the Bakudan explosion, and it was hard to concentrate. _What for? What are they all fighting about? On the Day of Kindness… why are so many people going to die? _

A sharp pain rippled lazily through her ribs, and she staggered, falling on one hand. Before her, Asuma lay unconscious on his back, his face shadowed into black-and-silver bars by the branches overhead. His real eye was closed, but the Enshogan, its glowing golden surface inflamed with webs of dark blood vessels, stared blankly upwards. The Enshogan was decaying…slowly dissolving into black liquid. The seal. The seal on the eye, originally defused by the Hokage, had finally activated.

"Sakura! Can you fight?" the Captain asked, grunting with the effort of sustaining his Mokuton jutsu. A puppet spider was cutting away at the top of the tree with its diamond mandibles.

She nodded. "Yeah," she said.

"Then this is your mission. We're surrounded on all sides by the enemy. Keep Asuma alive. And kill as many enemies as you can." The Captain stood up, unsheathing the sword on his back. "Everyone prepare to move out on my signal."

"What are you waiting for, Captain?" Ink asked.

Rhino laughed. "Right, you weren't here the last time. We're waiting for—"

The trunk of the white banyan tree glowed red for a split second, like it was being superheated from the inside. Then it violently exploded.

"—for _that_," Rhino finished.

"Now!" the Captain yelled.

The Captain took a running leap off the tree. Sakura grabbed Asuma and followed. The Captain threw some sort of seed ahead of her. The seed burst in midair into a large wooden slide. Sakura landed on top of it and slid down speeding to the canyon floor. Behind her, the trunkless crown of the tree exploded in another Bakudan blast. Sakura tumbled from the slide, rolling into a crouch onto the white sand dunes. In her hand she gripped her chakra-cast kunai tightly, hot and glittering to the touch. Asuma lay motionless in the sand next to her; she breathed hard, painfully, her ribs were broken, her limbs shook from exhaustion. The red sun beat down on her throbbing head. Paper kites fluttered overhead, glass-coated kite wires that whipped in the wind.

All around her there was fighting, sand-nin against sand-nin, against leaf-nin and rain-nin. The Captain and the other ANBU ran toward Gaara, who was fighting with Mukade's puppet spiders nearby. Zetsu's black thorn spikes were erupting out of the sand in all directions, spiraling in a twisting web. Sakura wasn't sure what to do. _Should I just stay here, or try to run for it? _

"Sakura! Asuma-sensei!" a familiar voice called. Sakura turned. Ino, Chouji, and Anake were running over to her.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura shouted.

"Kicking ass in the battle, duh!" Ino said, her long ponytail flapping. She was holding eight kunai between her fingers and seemed very pleased.

"Actually, we were flying kites," Chouji observed glumly. "Then the other people flying kites started trying to kill us." The short fat genin paused, staring at Asuma's body. "Why, uh, does Asuma-sensei have one eye?"

"Long story," Sakura said. "We got to get out of here!"

Chouji nodded vigorously in agreement. But Ino cried out, "No way! Finally a real battle! I wanna kick ass! Watch me, Sakura!" She charged forward at the nearest enemy sand-nin, a chuunin who was dueling with a Konoha chuunin.

"Aw, damnit!" Chouji said, following Ino.

Anake rolled his eyes. "Well, Sakura? Now that the bimbo and the fatass are gone, I think we can make a run for it."

"I heard that!" Ino shouted. "Why don't you go help out instead of running your mouth like a bitch?"

Anake smirked. "Forget it, my dear. We might as well already be dead. Surrender, I say! Fly the white flag and maybe they won't torture us horribly before they cut our heads off." As he was saying this, though, he made a hand seal and spit a fuuton elemental attack out of his mouth at a Suna ANBU who was attacking Chouji. "Sakura, behind you."

Another Suna ANBU was thrusting his sword at Sakura's chest. Sakura managed to parry it with her chakra-cast kunai, but the ANBU was very strong, and the sword probably would have hit her anyway if she hadn't used her other hand to jerk up the sand beneath the ANBU's feet with a chakra field. The ANBU fell down like a carpet had been pulled from out under him. _Huh. I didn't think that would actually work._ Before Sakura had time to think about what she would do next, a rain-nin attacked the Suna ANBU and the two moved away, exchanging furious blows.

The battle was growing more and more chaotic by the second. Like a hurricane blowing across the ocean, the center of the fight had shifted, and they were now in the middle of it. Blurs of running and leaping ninja swirled around Sakura. She stood guard over Asuma and didn't try to join the battle. _I'm no good for fighting right now. Unless I open the chakra gates. But I won't do that unless I have to. _

"Rolling fatass!" Anake shouted at Chouji, who had gone into his Nikudan Sensha jutsu, _Human Bullet Tank_. "Give it up already!"

"Shut up!" Chouji said. "You're like the fucking enemy! I hate you!"

"Wonderfully stated. I hate you too!"

Anake wasn't wrong. Ino and Chouji weren't really doing anything; they were way too slow to hit any of the enemy ninjas with their attacks and were basically just getting in the way. The best that could be said of them was that they hadn't died yet.

"You guys—" Sakura started.

"Got you!" Ino said, crying in triumph. "Shintenshin!"_ Mind Body Switch! _

Against all expectations Ino's mind transfer jutsu connected with a nearby Suna ANBU. She took over the sand-nin's body. "Haha! Look at me, cactus!" the ANBU cried out in a strange male voice, waving to Sakura. At the same instant a Konoha ANBU leaped above the Suna ninja. With one flashing cut he sliced off the sand-nin's head.

"Ino!" Sakura shouted.

Fortunately, the decapitation of the host didn't kill Ino. It just knocked her back into her real body, unconscious. Given the trauma of experiencing her own death, she would probably be out for a long time.

Chouji seemed speechless. "I miss Shikamaru," he finally managed.

Sakura was holding her head in pain. It was so hard to concentrate, but she could feel something disturbing. _What am I feeling? _With her inability to focus, she could only vaguely sense the chakra of the most powerful ninja in the canyon: Gaara, Mukade, the Captain, Zetsu, Inishu, Tosuken, and some others she didn't know. It was one of the ninja she didn't know that disturbed her now. An immense amount of chakra was building up in him.

Sakura realized what the chakra was with a chill. _Enshogan_—

"BAKUFUU!" _BLAST WAVE!_

The roar of a killer beast echoed along the length of Red Rock Cliff.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: "Red Rock Cliff, Part Two" **


	21. Red Rock Cliff, Part Two

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: "Red Rock Cliff, Part Two"**

* * *

The roar of a killer beast echoed along the length of Red Rock Cliff.

From the center of the canyon, by the tall white stump of the banyan tree, an enormous wave of rippling heat billowed outwards. It was as hot as a Bakudan blast, but unlike the Bakudan the wall of heat expanded in a sphere in all directions. It was impossible to avoid. Before Sakura's eyes, dozens of fighting ninja, friend and enemy alike, were caught by the Blast Wave. They didn't even have time to scream before their bodies were roasted into charred bones.

Sakura stared as the Blast Wave came rushing straight at her.

_Today is really, really going to suck_, she thought again.

She opened the first two Chakra Gates.

Chakra flooded her body, overflowing, as before. But at the same moment a jagged stab of pain tore through her head, so painful that she almost blacked out. _Ahhh_! Her concussion, her head injury. It couldn't handle all the chakra. She cried out, falling to her hands and knees. In front of her, so close she could feel the heat on her face, was the Blast Wave.

With desperate instinct Sakura poured her chakra into the sand beneath her hands. Screaming, she jumped up, throwing her hands over her head, pulling on the chakra field, taking the sand up with her. A thick wall of white sand was pulled up over her body and then back down over behind her. The dome of sand covered herself, Asuma, Chouji, Ino, and Anake completely. For a split second everything was in darkness.

The Blast Wave hit.

There was an odd crunching sound, like a can being crumpled up, and then all of a sudden everywhere there was light. The dome of sand… had turned into glass! The heat of the Blast Wave had fused the sand into a new silicate configuration. Sakura gaped in wonder through the thick, semi-transparent glass at the scenes of carnage outside, as through a distorted mirror. Behind them the Blast Wave slowly dissipated.

The glass of the dome, smoking, superheated, began to fracture. Cracks ran up the length of the dome, branching out, growing larger. Finally the glass gave way—shattering all at once. Sakura screamed again, blasting chakra from her tenketsu in a whirlwind. A million shards of hot glass exploded outward from her, scattering on the steaming white sand.

Two masked Sougon assassins stood before her with burning golden eyes.

"Well, well," sneered the beast-like Sougon. "So she survived my Bakufuu. I'm impressed."

"She _is_ the Betrayer's little pet, after all," said the big Sougon.

Sakura's head was pounding harder than ever before. It was hard to think or focus on anything. "Fuck you!" she managed to get out. "You killed Beater!"

The missing-nins laughed. "Was that his name?" the big Sougon asked. "Thanks for telling me. I love to know the names of the people I blow up."

Sakura screamed in rage and leaped at them. The beast-like Sougon moved so fast she didn't even see it, catching Sakura in the throat with his hand. She gagged in pain.

"Fuuton: Shinkuuha!" Anake called from behind her. _Wind Release: Vacuum Wave! _

The Sougons dodged the attack, splitting up in opposite directions. The beast-like Sougon still held onto Sakura's neck.

"Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari!" _Wood Release: __Smothering Binding__!_ Thick tendrils made of wood burst out of the sand all around the Sougon. One of the tendrils latched onto his wrist, forcing the Sougon to throw Sakura away. She tumbled hard in the sand.

The Captain ran at the Sougon from the side, a sword in his left hand, his right already making the seal for another jutsu. "We're losing!" the Captain shouted at Sakura. "Get the other kids out of here—"

A swarm of black thorns thick and tall as pillars rose from the ground around the Captain. Zetsu. Hideous thorn-swords dripping smoking venom grew out of every part of his body. "Where are you going, Captain?" Zetsu cried in delight. "We have ssome unfinished bussinessss!"

The Captain retreated before the combined attacks of Zetsu and the killer beast Sougon. The Sougon was unbelievably fast, faster than Gai. And his style of taijutsu was like nothing she had ever seen before. As he moved curtains of alternating heat and cold moved with him, both as a shield around him and as weapons to attack the Captain, a blur of fire and ice. _This the true power of the Enshogan!_ Sakura realized. _True mastery of heat!_ The Captain, strong as he was, couldn't fight hand-to-hand with the Sougon. Instead he leaped back, fleeing from those attacks, throwing up blockades of trees and branches that were instantly cut apart.

Sakura had managed to climb to her feet. _Damn, this is bad!_ The Captain was right; they were losing. Puppet spiders were everywhere, as if multiplying. Gaara's chakra signature was weakening. And in front of her the Captain was going it alone against two S-rank ninja.

She made to help him, though she wasn't sure how. Her head throbbed. Just then the Captain grunted out in pain, stumbling to the ground. Zetsu's thorn-sword stuck through the Captain's chest. Zetsu laughed victoriously. The man-thing raised another sword to drive in the finishing blow, but suddenly stopped.

"Sssssshit!" Zetsu hissed, craning his head to look up.

Sakura felt it too.

There was a new chakra signature somewhere close by, above her. The chakra was like the sun against a backdrop of candles, overshadowing all the others by its power. Even Gaara's chakra paled in comparison to this blinding white light. But somehow, too, the light was shadowed, as if something hidden and dark came with it unseen. And if you followed the light all the way back to the center, to the origin point, it was not a sun but a black hole. The paradoxical feeling of this incredible, unique chakra overwhelmed her. Almost by compulsion she turned to gaze in wonder at the source.

Atop the highest peak of Red Rock Cliff stood a woman in white robes.

Senju Tsunade raised her hands. "Doton: Yomi Numa!" she cried. _Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld! _

The sand in the center of the canyon turned into a brown muddy swamp. Everything there started to sink down. But it was easy for most ninja to jump out of it and use chakra to keep on top. Only the heavier things were stuck, sinking deeper and deeper into the mud. Mukade's puppet spiders were dragged down helplessly into the depths of the swamp. Zetsu's web of thorns was also sunk.

"Damn that bitch!" the Sougon spat.

He had barely finished saying this before there was a flash of light and the Fifth Hokage appeared out of the ground in front of Zetsu. She stared into Zetsu's black-white face.

"Torment," the Hokage said.

Zetsu froze and fell backwards, his face twisted into a grotesque expression of insanity. His mouth gaped wide open, as if he was screaming, but no sound came out.

The Sougon attacked the Hokage from behind. His hand formed a blade of heat that cleaved the Hokage straight in two through the chest, but she immediately disintegrated into a mud bunshin. The real Hokage appeared behind the Sougon. "Torment," she said again.

The Sougon fell down as well.

Having taken out two S-rank enemies in one second with her ultimate genjutsu she disappeared in a flash of light. In the distance there were shouts and cheers. Something blew up loudly.

Sakura and the Captain were on the periphery of the battle now, far away from the swamp where the main action was taking place. She ran toward the Captain, who was trying to get up. A black thorn still stuck through his chest.

"Sakura! Dodge!" the Captain yelled suddenly.

The girl dodged to the side. The ground where she had been standing exploded.

The Bakudan attack just narrowly missed. She staggered back, looked around her frantically. She saw him just in time. The large, masked Sougon was crouched on a black thorn vine above her. "Damn you and your Queen Bitch!" the Sougon shouted, raging. "Die!"

His eyes shimmered gold—

Sakura dodged again as the Sougon attacked with Bakudan. It was like in the forest again, a month and a half ago, when Sakura and the other man had fought each other. But in the flat canyon of Red Rock Cliff there was no place to run or hide. _Only attack!_ _I've got to attack him! _Sakura thought, her mind throbbing. It hurt to think.

She ran at the Sougon. The man fell back, dodging, putting the web of thorns as a barrier between them. _A long-distance fighter… he's weak up close! _The Sougon was spamming Bakudan all over. But Sakura, with the speed of two Chakra Gates open, was able to dodge and weave between his attacks, getting closer each time. Now she was close enough to look into his uncovered eyes.

"Bakufuu!" the Iwa missing-nin screamed.

A large Blast Wave erupted from his body. Sakura raised up a wall of sand to block it, but the Bakufuu was more powerful at close range. The sand melted into molten glass and shattered, not fully absorbing the shockwave. She was blown back. She cried out in pain. The Sougon laughed, gloating.

"Binding!" Sakura said, still lying on the ground.

The full-strength genjutsu, further enhanced by her open chakra gates, hit the Sougon. His muscles froze. Now the man couldn't move. An opening! She threw her chakra-cast kunai directly at the man's face. Then she threw some more kunai, just for good measure.

The man's eyes widened as the kunai came for him. Sakura thought she had won. But then the kunai fell clattering in midair to the ground, as if they had hit some sort of invisible wall. _He used his Enshogan to absorb the kinetic energy of the kunai!_ Sakura realized, gasping in pain. _Damn._

No, there was no choice but a direct frontal attack. An attack with her own hands. She charged forward. The Sougon also seemed to recognize the decisive moment. Finally breaking the genjutsu, he moved to close the remaining distance.

They ran right at each other.

The Sougon's eyes burned with gold flames. Sakura's hands, overflowing with chakra, raised up a huge wave of sand.

"Tree-fucking ape bitch!" the man yelled.

"For Beater!" she shouted.

_This is Beater's murderer…I'm gonna kill you! That was Asuma's promise! _

So close to each other they could almost touch, his Blast Wave and her charging wall of sand connected. There was a sickening crunch as the wave of heat hit the sand wall. The sand fused into molten glass. The glass shattered, exploded with shrieking violence. Into the vacant space, the breach of exploding glass and superheated golden haze, the girl and the man leaped.

Sakura didn't really have any idea what she doing. She couldn't see anything in the haze. She blindly stabbed into the space in front of her with a kunai. There was a scream of pain on the other end. "Stupid bitch!" she heard the man shout.

At the same moment, the air above her head exploded. The Bakudan overshot slightly, but it was close enough. She was blasted down hard into the ground. She rolled on the sand stunned.

_What's that? Am I falling?_ she thought. There was a burning, rending pain in her head. But before her there was something blue, blue as the surface of the sea. The sky. _So blue_, Sakura thought. _So blue and large and quiet_. In the back of her rational mind she knew she had suffered another concussion which had knocked her into a coma-like trance. But somehow that seemed insignificant to her now. _Everything is insignificant compared to this sky_. It was the most beautiful and the most wondrous thing she had ever seen in her life. She didn't understand how she had never seen the sky before. It was so blue and quiet and calm. Not at all Red Rock Cliff. Not like anything on earth.

The Sougon assassin appeared at the edge of her field of vision, stretching his hand toward her. The man mouthed some words. She heard the words as she heard the buzzing of a fly. She knew that the man was about to kill her, that she was about to die. She knew that, but suddenly death was insignificant to her, even more insignificant than life.

_What is it?_ she thought. _What is in this blue, quiet sky that is so beautiful? _Was it God? She remembered Gaara's prayer, for God to be with them on this Day of Kindness. God was in this sky, yes, but what was God? Was it kindness? No, she thought. No, kindness and hatred, the possibility of kindness and hatred, was something that only existed on earth. In the sky there was something else. The word came to her in a flash. _Innocence_. The innocence of a world without man, without good or evil. With all her heart she desperately yearned for that innocence, to join her soul to that lofty infinite eternal sky. To death.

_It should have been you_, a voice whispered.

And at that same moment, something within her pulled back. Something told that innocence was not for her.

It happened suddenly, more on sheer instinct and adrenaline than anything else. In the sky above her, fluttered a white paper kite. She could see the glittering kite wire close by her, close enough she could almost reach out and touch it. The kite wire was behind the man with the eyes of gold flames. With the palm of her right hand she threw out a chakra string into the air. The chakra string hit the kite wire. Sakura pulled back hard on the chakra string. The glass-coated kite wire whipped around in the air and wrapped itself around the man's neck.

_For Beater! For Asuma! _was all she had time to think.

She pulled her arm in the other direction. The wire followed, and with a clean coiling movement sliced opened the man's throat. Blood gushed out. The man stumbled back, his arms scrambling, and then fell down backwards in the sand.

Sakura didn't move for what seemed like a very long time. Then, as normal consciousness gradually returned to her, she rolled on her stomach and got to her knees before the dead man. The Sougon's still shimmering Enshogan eyes stared up the sky blankly. For some reason the girl remembered Asuma-sama's words. Asuma, who had made a promise to avenge his brother's death, and instead had been turned into some sort of grotesque puppet assassin, violated with the very thing he had vowed to destroy. Asuma who knew above all the way of the shinobi.

"_And then… I'll have vengeance. Victory. But it won't bring my brother back. No, there'll be an initial bloodlust, but it will fade so fast. Then I'll only feel an emptiness, a blankness, deep in my soul. Just like all the other killings. And the first killing above all._

"_Have you ever had that feeling, Sakura? Then you don't know anything about killing. Don't ever say it should have been you again. It shouldn't ever be the innocent." _

The girl reached down, pried her fingers into the Sougon's eye sockets, and pulled out his eyes. They were cold in her open hands, cold enough to burn her skin. And already decaying through the self-protective seal. The girl opened her fists and then closed them shut, squashing the Enshogan eyes. Cold black liquid leaked through her fingers down into the hot sand.

Someone put a hand on her shoulder. The ANBU Captain.

"Sakura," the Captain said. "You did very well. I know… I know this was your first time. The first killing is always hard."

Sakura stared. She shook her head slowly. "No," she said. "No. This is the second man I killed."

_The first was your brother, Asuma-sama_.

She felt nothing.

In the distance around her, there were muttering voices, whispers. As if a light had gone out, the battle was over, and the survivors groped confusedly in the dark for what to do next. Gaara and the United Countries had won. Ryokan Mukade was flattened on the ground like a pancake, every bone in his body crushed into powder. Gaara and Kankuro stood on top of Mukade's corpse. "Traitor!" "Akatsuki traitor!" the ninjas that gathered around them whispered. Rhino and Ink sat on the sand nearby. Chouji cradled an unconscious Ino behind what remained of their glass-fused shelter. Anake too, and Asuma. And Sarutobi Inishu, and Tosuken, and thousands of others who were alive.

The bodies of those who hadn't made it lay scattered all throughout Red Rock Cliff. Most were ninja. But many—too many—weren't. Medic-nins walked through the canyon, healing the wounded, rounding up prisoners, cataloguing the dead. The swamp of the underworld had long since reverted back into sand; half-sunk hulks of spider puppets and decomposing webs of thorns littered the dunes as bygone wrecks. Above all, above the whispers, there was silence. The only sound was the wind, the rushing whistling wind, and the flutter of the kites that somehow remained in the sky.

The Hokage stood in front of Sakura, her back turned to her. The girl heard her sensei's voice. "It is over. The village is yours, Kazekage-sama… What will be your decision?"

Gaara raised his head to stare at the sun. On his right temple Sakura could see the tattooed character of "Kindness." At that moment, by sheer chance, a fallen kite blew by next to him on a flurry of sand. The boy reached out his hand and caught the kite string. The kite was red; it jerked madly in Gaara's grip, twisting, before soaring up into the sky, higher and higher, until it was a mere shadow against the sun.

The Fifth Kazekage spoke. He spoke to all the gathered ninja, to the gathered villagers, to his people. The voice carried on the wind through Red Rock Cliff.

"Suna will join the United Countries," he said. "We will go to Iwa."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER ****TWENTY-TWO****: "****Birthright****"**

**Author's Note**: My response to Kurtulmak's review:

_**Kurtulmak**: "If the suicide seal melts eyes too, then how was the Enshogan recovered in the first place? There's some hint later about something the Hokage did that stopped working when Asuma was taken out, but I didn't really get what you meant."_

Yeah, the suicide/death seal is supposed to prevent the Enshogan from ever being stolen by the enemy in case of capture. This is kind of a plot hole because I didn't think up the seal until after writing Chapter 18. The retconned explanation is that Tsunade (because she is super awesome) was able to "defuse" the eye seal and prevent it from activating when she killed the Sougon assassin. Mukade then kept the seal dormant in Asuma with his puppetry. But after Asuma's puppet mask was disabled, the seal activated, destroying the eye. Don't think too hard about this explanation, just go with it :D


	22. Birthright

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: "Birthright"**

* * *

Asuma scratched his head. "Yeah, can you explain what happened to me again?"

They were in the main Sunagakure hospital. Sakura was standing by the recovering Asuma's bedside, along with Micho, Inoichi, and Asuma's students. Tonton the pig was curled up on Asuma's lap, looking around at the humans with wide glassy eyes.

"It's quite straightforward, Asuma-san," Honjo Micho said, adjusting his glasses. "Ahem. What I mean is it's just like Sakura guessed. You were infected with some of Zetsu's spores when you fought him. Once the spores got into your bloodstream, they leeched onto your spinal cord and brain. They're a kind of neurological parasite I've never seen before… microscopic, devoid of chakra, undetectable by ordinary means. Brilliant, really. Now, in general the spores had no effect on your normal behavior. However, the spores can be triggered by the right sensory stimuli, in your case a certain kind of gamma radiation, rendering you hypnotically suggestible to any command… in effect, as Sakura said, you were a sleeper agent. Sarutobi Iniden was your handler. He implanted the Enshogan in you and hypnotized you using a gamma ray generator to assassinate the Hokage or the Kazekage if you ever saw their real bodies. Is all that clear?"

Micho shrugged his shoulders and grinned, as if to say this explanation was as simple as it was going to get.

"Sounds like a plan Shikamaru would come up with," Asuma said. He had bandages over the right side of his face. The remains of the Enshogan eye and the puppet plate disguising it had been removed, and his old eye had been put back its place. (It turned out Mukade had kept the eye in a glass jar in his private apartments.) "Too much for me. Well… I'm cured now, right? No more spores?"

Micho smiled. "No more spores. You're a free man."

_At least for now_, Sakura thought. _Zetsu is still out there. Both of them are_. So many had died in Red Rock Cliff, so many good people. Like Saint. But somehow Zetsu and the killer beast Sougon were still alive. They had used shadow clones to absorb the Hokage's Torment genjutsu and then escaped in the chaos. No one knew where they were now, except that they would be back, and soon.

"Zetsu's spores were everywhere in Red Rock Cliff," Sakura pointed out. "A lot more people could have been infected."

"Yes, we're trying to figure that out now. I've ordered everyone to get tested. Meantime the Hokage is personally leading the effort to create an inoculation serum. The serum will be a permanent solution to any future spore attacks."

Inoichi scowled. "The breach of our security is far deeper than anything a 'serum' could cure. Don't think that Sarutobi Iniden is the only traitor in our midst."

As if she had somehow understood Inoichi's words, Tonton jumped up from Asuma's lap with a squeal and started running around the bed in a circle, excited. Sakura picked Tonton off the bed to calm her down.

Asuma sighed. "And how is Uncle Inishu taking the news about Iniden?"

"As one might expect he would take it. Rest assured… I am watching him very closely."

"Dad!" Ino said. "You can't seriously be accusing Commander Inishu of being a spy."

"Are you a spy?" Inoichi asked his daughter with no trace of irony. He turned to Micho. "Are you a spy? _Am I _a spy? Do you think Iniden went to Akatsuki by himself? He had high-level help. The leadership of Konoha has been compromised. We are all suspects."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Okay, dad, we get it. Don't you have somewhere to be? You know, secret agent stuff or whatever."

Inoichi turned his ever-suspicious, hawk-like stare on them as he left the room. "Remember what I said. All of you."

"Jeez, your dad is so intense," Chouji said to Ino after the door had closed.

"I know! You should see how he acts at home."

"Why would Akatsuki want you two guys as spies?" Anake wondered aloud, as if talking to himself. "Surely they can't be that desperate."

Asuma laughed. "Oh, I don't know about that, Anake. My students may be lazy bastards but their skills in subterfuge, otherwise known as bullshit, are unrivaled."

"Asuma-sensei!" Chouji said.

"All right, enough," Micho said. "The patient needs to rest. Doctor's orders. Out with all of you. Especially the pig!" He shooed them out of the room. Through the door he could be heard saying, "And no, Asuma-san, you absolutely are not allowed to smoke in the hospital!"

"Asuma-sama seems to be doing okay," Sakura said as they started talking down the corridor, carrying Tonton in her arms. She doubted whether she could cope so well after what had happened to him. _Or is that just a front? I don't know. Maybe both. _A day earlier, the first time Asuma had woken up, Sakura briefly told him what had happened during the battle in Red Rock Cliff. Asuma stared at her and then said, "Thanks." After that short conversation they hadn't talked about either Beater or the Sougon assassin again. What was there to talk about?

Unexpectedly Ino pulled Sakura aside. "I have something to say to you, cactus!"

The two girls stood by an open window in one of the hospital corridors, overlooking the courtyard below where children were flying kites. Sakura looked at her best friend.

"So you killed one of the bad guys," Ino said. "That's good."

Sakura stared.

"And… you saved my life. That's good, too." Ino paused. If Sakura didn't know better, she would think Yamanaka Ino was choking up. "Yes, the official UC Embassy pigwasher… _saved my life_. Because I was an idiot and I got myself knocked out."

"Ino… it could have happened to anyone."

"But it didn't happen to you! No, you're the hero now. The girl who unraveled the conspiracy and saved the Kazekage. The girl who avenged Asuma-sensei's brother. And you did it all without a ninja headband, just with that big ugly forehead of yours. Pah!" Ino tossed her long ponytail angrily. "I don't how you did it." She turned away to look out the window, leaning her arms on the sill.

"I worked hard, Ino. It wasn't easy. You know."

"Yeah… I know." Suddenly she smiled, her face breaking into a genuine grin. "Do you remember, Sakura? Back at the Academy, when you asked me what kind of flower you were? I said you weren't even a flower, just a bud. It would be a waste if you just ended up as a bud. A flower is meaningless unless it blooms. And that bud could grow into… a flower that was the most beautiful in the world."

Ino turned to look at her best friend. "Well, Sakura… you're not a bud anymore! You still have a big ugly forehead, but you're strong. Stronger than me. Congratulations."

Sakura didn't know what to say. "Ino… we're rivals, right? I always wanted to be as strong as you. Surpassing you was my goal. Just because maybe I'm a little stronger now doesn't mean you're not a great kunoichi. And I know that you'll surpass me again. We're best friends forever!"

Ino laughed. "Right! Just wait till the chuunin exam! I'm going to kick your ass!" Then she leaped over to give Sakura a big, tight hug. Tonton squealed as she was crushed between the two girls' embrace. Ino's blue eyes were sparkling and playful. "So tell me, you cactus. What does it feel like to kill a man?"

The UC Embassy stayed in Sunagakure for only a few more days. The Iwa chuunin exam would begin on June 29th, two weeks from now, and time was short. They still had to travel through the rest of the Wind Country, tramp across the Swamp Country, and then make a stopover in Hiroshiki, the capital of the Earth Country, before reaching Iwa. So the Hokage ordered the Embassy to move out of the village even before everyone's injuries from the battle had fully healed.

Fortunately, Sakura's wounds weren't very serious. In terms of physical damage she had only suffered some bruises, broken bones, and a concussion, easily fixed by medical ninjutsu. The internal damage to her muscles caused from opening the Chakra Gates was more serious, but to her surprise not nearly as bad as the last time. Due to her inability to concentrate she hadn't been able to open the Gates all the way or even generate a lot of the chakra she should have ordinarily. Her body had also gotten stronger and was more able to withstand the stress of opening two Gates. She still walked with a dull pain in her limbs, but even that would heal in a short time.

So instead of lying in the hospital, she wandered through the village aimlessly, hanging around with Ino and Chouji and Lee, playing around with Tonton, even flying kites with the Suna children. During the last few days Sakura also spent a lot of time with Temari and Kankuro. Baki had confirmed to her the rumor that was spreading all around the Embassy: the Hokage was planning to put her on Team Baki for the chuunin exam. Such an inter-village team had never been attempted before. Its symbolism, especially given the recent history between Suna and Konoha, was potent.

Temari and Kankuro had laughed when Baki told them about the decision. "Don't you need to be a _ninja_ to take the chuunin exam?" Kankuro asked.

"Assume that Sakura will be a genin when we arrive at Iwa," Baki said. He had on a new puppet arm and face plate, but hadn't bothered to costume them yet, and therefore looked particularly imposing as he glowered at them. "She is your teammate. You must respect her and work together if you wish to pass this exam."

Temari turned to stare at Sakura. "If I wanted a damn leaf-nin on my team, which I don't… I'd take your ex-boyfriend. But… I suppose you'll just have to do."

"That's my big sis's way of making a compliment," Kankuro added. "You actually did pretty well during the mission. So you probably won't slow us down _too _much."

On the appointed day, at dawn, when the Embassy was to leave the village, the Kazekage came to see them off.

Gaara made his way slowly through the ranks of the assembled sand-ninja and other personnel who were to travel on the Embassy. Several of the old High Councilors who had survived the battle of Red Rock Cliff trailed after him, silently and respectfully. Gaara didn't say much; but sometimes he would reach out to touch a ninja's shoulder or to shake his hand. When he came to where Team Baki was, he stopped for a long time. It was especially personal for him because Temari, Kankuro, and Baki were the closest bonds that he had. Sakura guessed that he had never been separated from his siblings for such a long time in his whole life. Now they would all be leaving on the Embassy. As he bid goodbye to them, the Kazekage seemed even more alone than before. But Sakura also saw in him now great strength. The strength to endure.

The last person Gaara spoke to before the Embassy left the village, improbably, was her. They walked a little away from the others in order to have a private conversation.

Sakura bowed low to him. "Kazekage-sama."

"Please, call me Gaara. That is my name." The boy seemed to smile, though the expression was unpracticed and he didn't quite do it right. "I want to thank you for saving my life."

She shook her head. "It wasn't me. My warning was too late to matter. Saint was the one who saw Asuma-sama as he was already charging Bakudan. He's the hero."

"That may be. The ANBU Saint is not here to tell us… even so, I thank you for trying. On that day there were not many who tried to keep me alive."

"There were enough," Sakura said.

"Yes. Enough."

Sakura paused. She hesitated, cleared her throat, then finally said, "Can I ask you something? Why did you change? What made you try to be… kind?"

Gaara stared at her, eyes black and impenetrable. "Before, I fought only to fight, to fight to the death. You wonder if you're really strong enough—stronger than the one you are dying to kill. I thought that defeating a man strong enough to hurt me and utterly destroying him proved the meaning of my existence. I fought for my sake only, and I loved no one but myself. But each time, with each killing, I found myself only unhappier and lonelier than before. Uzumaki Naruto showed me that there was a different way to live. He taught me that it was not hatred, but kindness that can defeat loneliness. Only Kindness at all cost."

"But… but sometimes, even if you want to change, it's so hard. And even if you do… you can't ever change what you did before. All the mistakes that you made. All the pain that you caused. How do you live with that? Even if you had another chance… a chance to make up for what you did…"

"You mean redemption?"

She nodded.

"There's no such as redemption," Gaara said. "Only regret."

_Only regret_. The fatalism, the predestination, but somehow also the hope, of Gaara's words seized her. It was hard to speak. "And is that… is that enough?"

"There is a saying in the Wind Country. _The sandstorm passes, but the stars remain_. What we did… what others did to us and before us… all of that is gone now. And we can never go back there, even if we wanted to. Like a passing sandstorm, all human life is but a breath in the wind. But yet there is something that remains behind, something that shines through with eternal beauty. Duty. Bonds. Love. Kindness. Those who died in Red Rock Cliff… those who have died in all times…we owe them that. That must be our promise to them, to each other, even to those who are yet to come. That is our inheritance and our legacy. That is our birthright."

Gaara hesitated, stumbling over the words. He looked down at the sand beneath his feet as if not knowing how to continue. For a moment he seemed not at all like the psychopath demon Sakura had feared before, not all like the great leader of the village she hoped he would become, but only as what he was. Only a boy. "But you asked if that was enough? Enough? I don't know. I can only give an answer that is true for me, now, at this time. It is not my place to tell you how to live your life… or what it means to be a shinobi… or the answer to the mystery of this world. I only want to tell you that you are not alone."

"Thank you, Gaara," Sakura said.

"I hope we will meet again, Haruno Sakura."

The Embassy, the combined Leaf, Rain, and Sand forces, left Sunagakure the same way they came in, through a slit in the high, red-stained stone walls. They pushed hard and fast north, trudging across the dunes of the Hiroi Desert. Within days they reached the edge of the Swamp Country that bordered Wind to the north. The Swamp Country was appropriately named: endless impenetrable glades and fens of hot, black, muddy, reptile-infested, insect-infested, shitty swamp. The swamps came from all the sediment being sloughed off the Dreamstone River, the world's largest river system by volume, which flowed through the middle of the country from west to east. In the east, where the river was slowest, lay the famous Wraithglades, the mysterious forests of bone-like ash trees that was said to be haunted with ghosts.

But the Embassy avoided the Wraithglades in order to save time. They didn't even bother to stop in Sawa, Swamp's hidden ninja village. Instead they continued to push north and west, staying close to the river, following the Dreamstone up back through the steeply rising terrain. Rugged, knife-edge mountains began to grow up out of the swamp, higher and higher. Then one day the swamps were gone and, squeezing through a narrow valley pass, the Embassy came to the place they had dreamed of for many months.

The Earth Country, at last.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: "Into the Mountain's Maws" **

**Author's Note: **My response to Ichi-Star's review:

**_Ichi-Stars_**_: "Very nice work with making Asuma a sleeper agent. There was enough hints for the reader to connect the dots but left them wondering until the last moment when it was nearly too late. I certainly hope Asuma survives because he is one of the few that really respects Sakura, along with the ANBU Captain. Which if I think is Yamato? […] Oh, and is Sasuke going to appear in your story and become a major character at some point? Or perhaps this story is mostly about the develop of Sakura?)"_

Glad you liked the "sleeper agent" twist. I never wrote a mystery before, but I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out.

Yes, the ANBU Captain is Yamato/Tenzou.

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke will appear in WILL OF STONE. At one point I was actually toying with writing a story that would follow all three of the main chars during the timeskip, but that probably would have taken like ten years. The damn story is long enough as it is. WOS is only about the development of Sakura, along with some other minor chars like Lee and so on.**  
**


	23. Into the Mountain's Maws

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.******  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: "Into the Mountain's Maws"**

* * *

They had walked across half the world.

Starting from the Fire Country, over a period of two months, the United Countries Embassy had slowly winded its way west. Along the way they had passed through a whirlwind of countries, cities, villages, places—forests and rivers, grasslands and mountains, deserts and swamps and maelstroms—all of them strange, all somehow indefinite. Like a misshapen shape glimpsed from a rushing train, they left behind only an obscure impression, gone as soon as they had been seen. What lingered were not the shapes. It was the changes the shapes had wrought in those who had glimpsed something they had never seen before.

The place they came to now was the one most unlike the place they had left. The chief geographical feature of the Fire Country was flatness, openness; it bled into four other countries along its western border, into the Sea of the Sage toward the south, into Lightning and Water toward the east. In a certain sense Fire, the political entity, existed more as lines on a map than as a real state, reflecting its origin as an amalgamation of bits and pieces cobbled together by the first Fire daimyos.

But the borders of the Earth Country were stamped in the land itself. Many thousands of years ago, violent volcanic eruptions had formed a long chain of mountains which surrounded Earth on all sides. The _Dreamstone Mountains_, closing off Earth from the rest of the continent. Ever since then it had existed as if it were an island on land, isolated and mysterious. Only the coming of the Sage of Six Paths had brought Earth into the world again.

The people of Earth bowed before the Sage's godlike power, adopted his religion and absorbed his teachings. But the old ways and customs were slow to change. Their dress, their distorted language, their ethnic and clan ties, their values, all persisted even in the face of extraordinary economic and technological transformation. And five hundred years later they still lived much as before. Whereas Fire had already become an industrialized society, Earth was very much still agricultural and rural.

As the Embassy squeezed through the narrow pass into Earth, the first thing they saw was mountain upon mountain of terraced rice paddies. Farmers with bent backs and straw hats on their head waded through the flooded paddies, whipping water buffalos harnessed to their plows, circling slowly around the terraces. When the farmers saw the Embassy they shouted. At the shout flocks of wild geese burst from behind the mountains, quacking nosily. Far below, loose rocks kicked over the edges of the pass tumbled down into the Dreamstone River, green and calm like a sheet of jade.

"The Earth Country!" Rock Lee cried. "The Iwa chuunin exam!"

"Walkin' straight into the mountain's maws," Kankuro observed. "We must really want to die."

Sakura thought it was the most extraordinary place she had ever seen.

Even though the Earth Country was so different from Fire, Sakura felt far more at home here than at any other time on the Embassy. She didn't know why. Maybe because it was the beginning of summer, hot and bright. Maybe because she was near the end of her journey. Maybe because she had stopped training so hard and relaxed enough to see her surroundings. Whatever the reason, impressions came to her with the clarity and permanence of a photograph.

Crossing the bridge across a valley stream. The wagons jamming up in piles on the narrow wooden bridge, but men splashing into the glittering rushing water, wading across the stream with artless laughter. Red leaves floating in the water cling to their clothes as they climb out.

A frog jumping into a pond with a splash, and Tonton following it.

Wandering through a hidden meadow, scarcely larger than the trees around it are tall. The air stifling sweet and smeared with the nectar of ripe oranges. Shaking slim tree trunks to make oranges fall to the ground by the armful, throwing them one by one into each other's mouths.

A hollering shepherd running down a hill with long strides, swinging a stick, driving in front of him a thousand bleating sheep.

Climbing a moss-cracked ridge and suddenly seeing before her the Ice Spear, the greatest mountain in the world, a sheer jagged peak covered in white glacial ice, thrusting skyward until it breaks the clouds in two.

Shirtless boys playing in ruins from a thousand years ago by the side of the road. Running a hand over overgrown temple walls made of huge stone faces, feeling the worn broken idols beneath her fingertips. A tree made of twining trunks squatting on top of a doorway, the roots hanging down like strands of thrown over hair.

Marching at night through valleys thick with forest shadows. Passing a cottage with a single candlelight still on. Catching a glimpse of a young girl singing in an unknown tongue, and wondering who she was.

Sakura found herself mesmerized. Day by day, her consciousness was drawn further into the rhythms of Earth, into the lives of those who lived there. She tried to comprehend how all this immense beauty could exist in one place. What did it all mean? _Peace_, she imagined to herself. _Peace and freedom and innocence_. _It's like the infinite sky I saw before, in Red Rock Cliff, except it's really on earth! It's here!_

But she didn't forget what she had come here for.

"_What do you want, girl?"_ the Hokage had asked her two months ago. And she had thought she had known.

"_Let me go on the UC Embassy. I know… I'm weak. It was my fault Beater died. I know that. If I could sacrifice my life to bring him back, I would—but I can't. But what if… if I could become stronger? And then I could… bring someone else back? To make up for what I did. Please, Tsunade-sensei. I want… I need another chance."_

The Hokage's dark eyes gleamed. They were full of something strange, something Sakura did not understand. _"So be it..._ _you are too weak to be a ninja now. So I will not restore your rank at once. But _prepare yourself_. When the Embassy arrives at Iwa, I will test you. It will be a test of strength. If you pass my test, then you shall be reinstated as a ninja, and you shall participate in the Iwa chuunin exams. If you fail… then it's over. Do you understand?" _

A test of strength. Another chance. That was why she had come to the Earth Country. She had come here to be a ninja again.

But why? Yes, she wanted to be a ninja—but for what? _Why do I have to do this when... when all of it is so terrible? This way of death and torment? _

Those had been the old doctor Micho's words. _"__The Hokage took away your forehead protector. She freed you… you don't have to fight anymore. I don't understand. You're such a promising medical talent. You can go to Ashwarren, enter a civilian medical school, be a doctor. You can save, Sakura, not kill. Isn't that what you want?" _

It had happened suddenly, more on sheer instinct and adrenaline than anything else. Sakura pulled back hard on the chakra string. The glass-coated kite wire whipped around in the air and wrapped itself around the man's neck. With a clean coiling movement the wire sliced opened the man's throat. Blood gushed out. The man stumbled back, his arms scrambling, and then fell down backwards in the sand. He was dead. His still glowing eyes stared up at the sky blankly.

She felt nothing.

_I killed him. Beater's murderer. But then... why am I still here? _She had told the Hokage she wanted another chance to make up for what she did. And she had—as much as she ever could. There was nothing left to prove. She was free to go. Yet something still held her back.

The girl often thought about what Kakashi-sensei had told her, that night by the wooden posts in the clearing where Team 7 had first begun. _"Sakura, please listen to me. __Th__is way… the way of the shinobi… it is not for everyone. I knew so many… so many otherwise brave men and women who could not walk it. They were weak. But you. You are strong. You always have been, Sakura." _

Strength. It all came back to strength. Not just physical strength, Kakashi was saying, not just how fast you could run or how high you could jump. The strength to endure. The strength to be a ninja.

"_There's no such thing as redemption," _Gaara had said._ "Only regret_._"_ The path Gaara had walked had been so much harder than her own. But somehow despite the pain he had found a source of strength to keep him going. Something to fight for. And Gai, too, and Lee. Aumono and Tosuken. Kakashi and Naruto. Even the bad guys, Mukade and Iniden and Basho, who had given their lives for what they believed in. Even Sasuke.

Each of them had different reasons for what they did. Gaara fought for Kindness at all cost. Mukade fought for power. Gai, for protecting the people precious to him, for the Will of Fire. Naruto, to make everyone recognize him, love him. Sasuke, for vengeance, hatred. Some reasons were good and some were bad, but it didn't matter in the end. The strength they gave—the strength to be a ninja—was the same.

_But what am I fighting for? What do _I _want? _

This was what the test was all about, she knew. This is what she had to prepare herself for. But Sakura couldn't figure out the answer. Of course she had her reasons from before, a whole list of them. To follow in her father's footsteps. To make money to support her family. To be a stronger kunoichi than Ino. To protect her friends. To be a hero like Naruto and Sasuke. To bring Sasuke back to Konoha, to save the boy she loved. To redeem herself, to make up for what she had done. To prove that she could strong.

But none of those reasons seemed to be right anymore. None of them seemed to be the... the _real reason_. And if she didn't know that real reason, she could never be truly strong.

Now the two questions Sakura had asked herself at the beginning of the Embassy took on a new interpretation. The first question: _Why am I so weak?_ And the second question that followed: _How can a weak person become strong?_ To these two questions Sakura now added a third: _What am I fighting for? _Her failure to find that purpose as a ninja was the answer to the first question. And finding that purpose was the answer to the second question.

Over all her reflections loomed the coming trial that would decide her fate.

_Either way, it's gonna be over soon. Tsunade-sensei is going to test me when we arrive at Iwa. And either I'll pass her test, or I won't. Next week I'll be a ninja or I never will be again. No more waiting..._

Meanwhile, the mesmerizing beauty and innocence of the Earth Country had turned into chaos.

It started in Hiroshiki, the capital of Earth, three days after the Embassy had entered the country. That morning the towers of the city had first appeared over the treeline. Sakura could just make several gleaming white stone spires; a ruby was embedded in the crest of the central spire. This was the legendary Cathedral of the Faith, the vast white stone temple first built by ancient pagan kings, then refashioned by the Sage of Six Paths. In the distance, behind Hiroshiki, the Dreamstone Mountains sloped up higher and higher until the peaks were covered in white ice. But the paved valley road into the city was smooth and lined on all sides by trees.

The Embassy rolled down the road in high spirits. Ahead of them a large crowd of earth-kin, Hiroshiki civilians, had gathered. A welcoming party, Sakura thought. Until she saw the banner they had unfurled along the length of the road. The banner read:

"LEAVE NOW, BETRAYER! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!"

Behind the banner thousands of earth-kin protestors waved signs to the same effect. The most popular sign was a version of, "GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM APES!" followed by "DEATH TO THE FIRE COUNTRY!" and "DEATH TO KONOHA!"

At the head of the Embassy, the Hokage reined in her horse in front of the protestors that blocked the road. When they saw her the crowd of earth-kin started screaming as if they had been drenched in boiling water. "Betrayer!" they shouted. "Get out of here, Betrayer! Get out of Earth!"

The Hokage struggled to make her voice heard over the roar. "The Embassy is here on the invitation of the daimyo! Make way or you will be dispersed!" But her words only seemed to enrage the protesters more. The Hokage turned to her entourage. "Inishu! Clear a path!"

The ninja in the vanguard of the Embassy moved forward, pushing aside the protestors. And then all hell broke loose.

Suddenly a mob of wild screaming people was attacking the Embassy on all sides. They were civilians. A single ANBU could probably kill them all; or at least the Hokage could use a genjutsu to knock them out. But the Embassy couldn't use that kind of force against civilians. Instead they had to absorb the attacks of the mob as they pushed forward through into the city. "Death to the Betrayer! Death to Konoha! Death to Konoha!" the protestors shouted. They threw rocks and broken glass bottles, kicked and punched and spat. Sakura was almost hit by a rock a few times and had to wipe the spit off her face and clothes. "Don't fight! Just get into the city!" the Hokage ordered, riding back and forth along the Embassy. The Hiroshiki police were waiting inside the city gates. They did nothing against the mob outside, but held back the protestors from entering.

At last the Embassy was through. The Hokage led them quickly down the thoroughfares to an isolated barracks on the outskirts of the city. In the rush Sakura caught only a brief glance at the actual streets of Hiroshiki, a combination of the ancient white stone architecture that still survived along with newer wooden houses and buildings. She didn't have a chance to see it again. After a hasty audience with the Earth daimyo, which came to nothing, the Embassy slunk out of the city that night.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked Asuma.

"It's the goddamn Sougon bastards again. They're fucking with us."

"Sougon?" For a moment she didn't understand. "You mean the missing-nins?"

Asuma laughed. "No. I mean the guy who's been ordering them around."

With a shock Sakura realized what Asuma was saying. "You... you're accusing the Tsuchikage."

The Fourth Tsuchikage of Iwagakure was Sougon Sawar, known by the epithet _Sun Breaker_.He was also the head of the Sougon clan.

"You got it. The Earth daimyo is interested in the UC, but Sawar hates it. So what does he do? The crafty bastard stages a fucking protest right in front of the daimyo's palace. Makes it seem like the masses hate us just as much as he does. The daimyo gets scared, calls off the negotiations. Now we're runnin' off with our tail between our legs." Asuma shook his head. "I don't why Sawar spent so much effort trying to assassinate us when he could have just thrown a few rocks instead."

"What were they chanting about? Why did they call Tsunade-sensei the 'Betrayer'"?

Asuma shrugged. "Some ancient shit or other. Sawar and Tsunade have a lot of bad blood between them."

Sakura considered this. "But it can't all just be the Tsuchikage's personal grudge against Tsunade-sensei. I mean... millions of people died during the Third Ninja War, on both sides. Those people in the mob... they really _hated_ us."

"Well... yeah, there's a small minority of earth-kin who haven't gotten over the war yet. Most of Earth isn't like that. You saw them before, right? Nicest people in the world. Still... Sawar has definitely got the riff-raff stirred up now. It's probably going to get worse every day. And Iwa is gonna be a _real_ riot."

Thereafter, in every village and town they passed, and even just by the side of the road, a crowd of angry protestors came out to welcome them with chants of "Death to the Betrayer! Death to Konoha!" The harassment was constant and furious. A few of the civilians and regular soldiers on the Embassy were injured, and one of them was almost killed by a stone that hit him in the head. It was like walking through a never-ending ambush.

One day an old earth-kin woman started screaming, "Murderers! Murderers!" and raised up the body of a little boy in her arms. The boy had been stabbed in the throat by a kunai. The old woman pointed a quivering finger at one of the Konoha ANBU. "Fucking Sougon plant!" Asuma said. The mob went wild. "Murderers! Murderers!' they shouted, rushing at the ANBU to tear him limb from limb. It took hours to beat them all back.

The woman was detained and an investigation was made. It turned out the boy had died from a stomach virus and wasn't even related to the woman, an Iwa operative. But it didn't matter. The story of the Konoha ninja murdering a little child in cold blood spread like wildfire. The protests grew larger by the hour.

At last the Hokage was forced to order the Embassy along another route to Iwa, away from the main roads and the mobs of protestors. They pushed deep into the mountains, navigating steep, winding passes so narrow that sometimes they had to walk single-file. Most of their remaining wagons and other heavy equipment were abandoned in this last leg of the expedition. There were little signs of human habitation; only the endless, sweeping indifference of the Dreamstone Mountains. The stunning isolation from everything was almost inconceivable against the fury of the past few days. Sakura thought the land was even more beautiful than before.

On the last night of their journey the United Countries Embassy camped at the base of a large, heavily forested mountain. Tomorrow they would reach Iwa.

Sakura's mind was full of confused, half-formed thoughts. Tension ran through her whole body like an electric current. _This is it_, she thought. _Tsunade-sensei's going to test me tonight_. She walked away from the others to the edge of the camp. The moon was absent and the sky filled with stars. For some reason, though it was not cold, she decided to start a fire. The girl stared into the crackling flames as if looking for something in it. But there was nothing. For the first time in a long while, she wondered what her mother and sister were doing in Konoha, and if they were well.

The fire was oddly soothing, and eventually the girl nodded off into sleep.

It was cold again, and snow covered the ground in heaps and drifts. The sickle moon hung high in the sky, pale as white porcelain, and the trees were a skeletal tangle of naked lungs. Everything was so still and silent. Even the little bubbling brook was frozen, and the wooden bridge over it deserted, except for her and him.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said. "I never noticed it before."

"No. You're a spring girl," he said.

She laughed. "And what season are you, Uchiha Sasuke?"

He didn't say anything, but drew her close. His breath was hot on her face and his tongue tasted like fire. But the kiss ended; then he shrunk back away from her, as if frightened of something. "What's wrong?" she asked.

He paused. "I can't take you with me."

"Take me where?"

"Girl," Sasuke said, as if from a place far away.

"What?"

"Girl," Sasuke repeated. His voice echoed, changed, seemed to turn to a higher pitch. It was softer and colder all at once, like a silver reed in the frozen snow—

"GIRL."

Suddenly the snow vanished, replaced by the embers of a dying campfire. The dream faded. She was back again in the Embassy, in the camp in the Earth Country. All that had happened returned with the clarity of waking from an unwanted sleep. Before her loomed a tall shadow, dark and inscrutable.

"Tsunade-sensei…"

The Hokage's eyes flashed in the dim firelight. "It's time, Sakura. Come with me."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER ****TWENTY-FOUR****: "The ****Master's Shadow, Part One****"**


	24. The Master's Shadow, Part One

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: "The Master's Shadow, Part One"**

* * *

Sakura followed her teacher in silence. The Hokage walked out of the camp, pushing her way up the nearby mountain. A chill wind blew down from on high, a shiver through sloping forests of thick black trees. Branches stirred and scratched at one another with wooden fingers. Everywhere all around her summer locusts cried out, but the mountain seemed to swallow what they had said.

They climbed. The trails were steep and winding. At first they were low enough to the ground that if Sakura looked back she could catch glimpses of the Embassy camp through the trees, like swarms of fireflies. But soon enough the camp faded, each point of light coalescing until it was just a single bright dot. And then at last on the heights they were alone. It was indescribably calm. The sky was clear and bursting with stars. In the brilliant white starlight the whole world seemed like shadows bathed in milk, luminous, formless.

Suddenly the Hokage spoke. "I grew up during the first years of Konoha's existence. My grandfather, Senju Hashirama, sought to end the constant wars between the shinobi clans that were tearing apart the world. The hidden villages were founded to stabilize the situation. For a time it worked, but it didn't last. The rough balance of power between the major countries broke down. And the wars came again, more monstrous than ever, for so much power had been gathered on either side.

"That was a time when men spoke not of peace, but of mere survival. The First Ninja War had just begun, but the Fire Country was losing, and we, the most talented of our generation, were soon on the front lines of that war. I remember the first time I was sent off to battle. I was so excited. We all were, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, ready to go to war, to kill, to be true ninja at last. But Hiruzen-sensei seemed sad. And my grandfather was the saddest of all. He pulled me up, lifted me up as he had so many times before, held my head tight against his wrinkling cheek. 'Tsunade-kun,' he said. 'I'm so sorry.' I was nine years old.

"Those who grew up in peace couldn't understand. Over eighty percent of the children in our generation went to battle and never returned. But we who survived learned the ultimate truth of this world. _Strength is the only thing that matters, don't you ever believe anything different_. A single battle would last for days or weeks, until all your friends were dead, until you were too tired to think or move or feel, to go on. But you had to anyway. And if you lived you were strong. That was all strength was to us. The dead were weak, we abandoned and forgot them, but the living we worshiped as gods, for it was victory that gave us the right to rule the world. We grew hard, cruel, detached. We crushed our emotions and buried what remained deep inside, we deceived ourselves, we exposed nothing, trusted nothing and loved no one but in secret. We were all insane, but we didn't even know it.

"That was the most terrible thing. The wars had become normal, gone on so long we couldn't conceive any other way to live. For three decades they continued, interrupted by only short bursts of ceasefire, the longest of them only six years. I lost everyone I loved—my grandfather, my father, my little brother Nawaki. I fought as if by rote, I had no idea what I was fighting for, why I was a ninja. Then I met a man named Katou Dan. Dan was different from everyone else. Dan had lived a life as hard as mine. But somehow he still dreamed. He fought not for war, but for an end to war. For the day when we could live in peace. We fell in love. Eventually he asked me to marry him, and I said yes.

"But before we could get married, there was a war to finish. The wars had caught us again, both of us, and in the end they took us to this place, this mountain you stand on now. We called it Deathtrap Mountain... the stone-nins had hidden a secret base here, a fortress buried below a lake on the mountain peak. They planned to harness the mountain's underground energies to construct a superweapon called the Annihilation Device, a bomb of immense power that would have reversed the war in their favor. We had to stop them. It was a mission from hell. Every step we took up the Deathtrap was purchased in blood, against endless traps, ambushes. At last we pushed our way into their base, where the stone-nins met us in full desperate force. Dan and I led the attack. For three nights we fought on the lake, under it, in the caves of earth. The corpses piled in thousands on either side. Finally the victory was ours. But Dan was dead. He had sacrificed all for his dream. That was the end of the Third Ninja War, seventeen years ago. Iwa made peace with us the next day."

The Hokage fell silent. They climbed a last ridge; and then they were on the top of Deathtrap Mountain. The peak was flat and in the center was the lake. Sakura realized she had seen it before. _In the Torment genjutsu... it's the same place!_ The lake had been different then. Thick fog drenched everything in murk. Dirty waves churned, as if the earth beneath was breaking apart. There had a horrible smell, a sick stench that made her gag and reel, and the water had been red with the cold blood of countless corpses.

But that had been seventeen years ago. Now the lake was still and deep, its surface smooth as a black mirror. A million stars glittered in the water, white and brilliant, staring out like eyes of glass, lifeless, without the gift of sight. There was absolutely no sign anywhere that any human being had ever been here before.

The Hokage stepped lightly onto the lake, walking toward the center. The girl followed. As they got close she saw that there was a small stone rising out of the water. It was a rectangular slab of white marble, high as a man and twice as wide. Thousands of names had been carved in little block characters on either side of the slab, the names of the shinobi who had died in the Battle of Deathtrap, leaf-nin on the right side, stone-nin on the left. And in the center of the memorial stone was carved these words:

FOR THE LAST BATTLE OF THE LAST WAR

August 14, 509

For a long time the girl and the woman stared at the stone. Sakura didn't know what to say. Finally she looked at her teacher. Senju Tsunade's face was pale and ashen in the starlight, her flowing hair washed out of all color. But her dark eyes were strangely vivid; something in them seemed to crack, like a glass, in which the contents had turned to ice.

The Hokage spoke in a voice that fell and trickled like drops of water. "Do you understand, Sakura?"

The girl nodded. "That's what this is all about, isn't it? Stopping the next Ninja War. That's why you created the UC Embassy. Bringing all our strongest ninja, recruiting allies from Rain and Wind. Something is happening... something that can't wait. And Iwa is the source. Why? What's there, in Iwa?"

"The Fourth Tsuchikage, Sougon Sawar, is obsessed with Iwa's defeat in the Third Ninja War. He has forged a vast conspiracy to launch a new war and avenge his loss by destroying Konoha. The key is the superweapon abandoned seventeen years ago. During the Battle of Deathtrap, Konoha recovered the core of the prototype bomb, the so-called Annihilation Heart, and was supposed to have destroyed it. However, unknown even to me, we did not. Sawar learned of the bomb's existence and approached Akatsuki with an offer of alliance. He sent a secret three-man team to steal the Heart and then pass it on to Akatsuki for further development. Our spies indicate that the new prototype Annihilation Device is now somewhere in Iwa itself. It is being powered with chakra from the bijuu Akatsuki has already captured. Once complete, it will be powerful enough to destroy an entire country in a single instant."

Sakura was staggered. _An entire country in a single instant_... and she had seen it. During the mission, in the case, a very bright, glowing thing which shimmered and throbbed and pulsed. And in the genjutsu, in the womb of that terrible frozen machine. A seething heart, a steaming crystal blazing white with incomprehensible heat. _Annihilation... _

She struggled to absorb the Hokage's words, understand the scale of what was at stake. "And what are you going to do?" she asked. "If... if you want to go straight into Iwa and fight the stone-nins..."

"Our mission is simple. We must topple Sawar, expose his conspiracy, destroy the Annihilation Device, and bring the Earth Country into the United Countries. It may not come to open battle. The Tsuchikage isn't the only power in Iwa. There are many in Iwa who support peace. There are many who are horrified by the possibility of the Annihilation Device. If I can use diplomacy… convince the peace faction to back the United Countries, force Sawar to resign... a negotiated resolution is possible. But Sawar won't make it easy. He will use every possible means to weaken us, divide us, turn us against each other. There may be no open battle, but there will be shadow war."

_Shadow war._ "Like in Hiroshiki, the staged riots against the UC. Like the Sougon missing-nins' attacks on you and Gaara in Suna. The Tsuchikage was behind all of it." Sakura remembered a canyon of hot white sand, and a large blue sky like the sea, and a man's eyes, cold in her hands, cold enough to burn. "And that was just a warm up."

"Yes. The coming shadow war will involve every shinobi in Iwa: spying, deception, theft, clandestine plots, conspiracies, bribes, blackmail, murder. And there shall be one central nexus around which the shadow war will turn. _The chuunin exam_... this is no ordinary exam. The strongest genin from every country, and with them their powerful jounin sensei, even from as far east as Lightning and Water, are all coming to Iwa. Never before has such talent gathered in one place. They are coming because the whole system of world power is in the balance... because what happens in Iwa over the next two months will decide the fate of the world.

"As long as open battle does not directly break out, the controlled violence of the chuunin exam will be used as a proxy to measure the strength of each country. Of each alliance. Everyone will be watching. It will be the United Countries against the Earth Country and their allies, a bloc that is being called the Confederacy—Earth, Water, Waterfall, Swamp—united by their defeat in the Third Ninja War. If genin teams from the United Countries perform well in the chuunin exam, we will be able to attract more unaffiliated countries to our side, sway undecided Iwa factions; and for the Confederacy likewise. If it does come to an actual battle, the relationships forged through this chuunin exam will likely be the decisive factor."

The Hokage paused. "And you, Sakura, are at the center of it all. I chose you as my personal apprentice… you are my representative in the chuunin exam. Everything that you do will directly reflect on my personal strength, leadership, and strategy. In effect, you will be the leader of the United Countries in each trial of the chuunin exam. Your allies will look to you. And your enemies will target you. Your actions may very well cause the success or failure of our mission. Do you understand?"

The enormity of the crisis before her was overwhelming. It was as if the whole world was sitting on a pile of kerosene, ready to blow at any moment. One spark, and utter annihilation. Or somehow it would be saved. _What happens in Iwa over the next two months will decide the fate of the world. _Sakura had the sense that history was being made now and that she would be a part of it, they all would. All of them had a duty to perform, a burden to carry. They had to come together or all would be lost. In the face of such stakes, personal grievances seemed almost petty, trivial.

_Because, girl, it should have been you_, a voice whispered.

She turned away, unable to look at the Hokage. Her throat was so tight it was hard to breathe. She shuddered, and nails dug into the palms of her fists. In the distance, far off the lake, mountain peaks a million years old stood against the stars. "No," she said finally. "No, I understand... but why? You said that I was trash. You said I was a slut, I was weak, worthless. You said that you were gonna test me, that I had to fight to get my forehead protector back! And now... you want me to lead the chuunin exam? Is this some sick joke?"

The Hokage stared at her. "Do you still not understand, Sakura? Don't you understand that Konoha has been preparing you for this role for your whole life?"

Sakura was speechless. "What?"

"Konoha is like a great tree. We produce a thousand buds, but only some of those branches grow strong. It is the task of the elders to cultivate the tree as best we can. In each generation, the High Council creates one or two flagship teams composed of the most talented young shinobi, taught by the strongest sensei. These are the children who grow up to become the leaders and the great names of the village. So the First Hokage was the older brother of the Second Hokage. The Second Hokage taught the Third Hokage. The Third Hokage taught the legendary sannin. One of the legendary sannin taught the Fourth Hokage. The Fourth Hokage taught Kakashi the Perfect Ninja, my designated successor. And for your generation…"

The last of the Uchiha, the greatest bloodline of all. The host of the nine-tailed demon fox. And her.

"Why me?"

"You had your father's blood, the same potential. Your academy scores in chakra control and genjutsu were unequaled. You displayed an exceptional capacity for strategic thought. It was the perfect match to Naruto's instinctual resourcefulness and Sasuke's tactical prowess. As a genjutsu type and as a female ninja, it was expected that your talents would mature more slowly than that of your aggressive male teammates. You were overshadowed on Team 7, but never forgotten. As Kakashi wrote in his reports, 'Sakura is the heart of Team 7. Though she does not have the same raw power as her teammates, she has a strength to endure anything that is beyond theirs. When forced into an unfavorable position, she does not hesitate to use whatever means are at her disposal… she displays great command and leadership competence. I believe her potential for growth is unlimited.'

"After Team 7's breakup, the High Council ordered me to train you as a medic-nin and a genjutsu specialist. You exceeded all our expectations, mastering jutsu in weeks that it took others years to learn. We decided you were ready to lead the United Countries in the Iwa chuunin exam. However, your assigned teammates, Ino and Chouji, were thought to be too weak. I decided to test them in the field, beginning with a mission to stakeout a low-level Akatsuki meeting. Though the mission was disastrously compromised by bad intelligence, the result confirmed my assessment of their weakness.

"In contrast, your performance was impressive. While it's true you made a mistake by not suppressing your chakra, it likely did not affect the outcome of the mission. Rather it was your decisive action under pressure which saved Asuma's life. The Council didn't understand why I terminated your ninja rank, but I forced them to accept the discharge as a pretext for further training. Your performance on the United Countries Embassy again surpassed all expectations. Any remaining doubt about your ability was erased. In Suna we reached an agreement to place you on Team Baki with the Sand Siblings. Your will lead the new flagship team in the chuunin exam. There is no one in the United Countries who is more prepared for this role than you."

Sakura was dumbfounded. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was Tsunade-sensei really saying those words? _But you said it was all my fault! You said I should have been me! _"So you... so this is the truth?"

"Yes."

"And what you said before... it was just a lie. You lied about everything."

"Yes. I lied."

"But why?" Sakura burst out. "Why did you do all those things? Do you hate me that much..." She trailed off. _No_, she realized suddenly._ It's not about hate_. No, it was just like Asuma said. "Unless... it was all just part of some plan. Some sick plan of yours to make me stronger, to test my strength. Even when you said I should have died! You... you took my forehead protector away just to see if I would be strong enough to get it back. You were just teaching me a lesson!"

Now it all fell into place. The Hokage was the one behind everything that had happened. At the time it had all seemed so accidental, unplanned. That Gai would so readily agree to teach her a forbidden kinjutsu. That Gaara would think of her to join Team Baki for a top-secret mission. But they had only been tests... just part of the Hokage's master plan for her apprentice. Sakura understood at last. The Hokage had skillfully exploited Sakura's guilt, made her desperate to redeem herself. Her sensei had done it on purpose. To make her stronger, to prepare her.

And what was wrong with that? The whole world was at stake. What were a few tears wept by a little girl in comparison? Yes, it could be justified. The Hokage was trying to save the world! She needed strength. Soldiers with the strength to survive, to kill. Sakura's personal emotional needs were irrelevant. It had all been spelled out to them in the academy, the basic rules every ninja learned by heart. _No matter what situation a shinobi must keep emotions on the inside. You must make the mission your top priority. And you must possess a heart that never shows tears._ A ninja was just a tool. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.

But Sakura's whole body was shaking. She was caught up in her bitterness, she couldn't stop herself. "Tsunade-sensei… I have to say something. When I came to ask you to be my teacher, I didn't think you would accept. You were the Hokage and I was a failure. So when you said yes, I was so happy. And I started to think that, maybe, you took me on because you saw something in me that nobody else saw. I even began to hope that, maybe, I was important to you. That you cared about me.

"But that night... that night, what you did to me. What you said. You were like a whole different person, and I couldn't understand why. I could only guess that you hated me... and I... I hated you, too. I was so angry. But then, in Suna, when you were attacked and I thought you were dead… I don't know. I was horrified, all the anger drained away. And all I could think was that I would have never the chance to prove myself to you again, to prove that I was strong and that I was worth something. I thought that's what you wanted. But it's not, is it? People are just tools to you, means to an end. All you care about is your plan. You're going to Iwa and topple the Tsuchikage and fight Akatsuki and save the world. Nothing else matters. I'm sorry I ever believed anything else."

The Hokage didn't speak for a long, lengthening moment.

"And if that is the case... if you are the victim of my sick plan... then what are you still doing here, girl? Why are you groveling before me, begging to be a ninja again? You don't want to be a tool. Very well then. You are free to go."

This remark cut Sakura to the quick. It was true. She could leave. Nobody had forced her to come along on the Embassy, it had been her choice. Her choice to be a tool. Why? _What do I want? __What am I fighting for? _Sakura was at a loss for words. The Hokage had reversed the question, from her own sins to Sakura's complicity in those sins.

"Fuck you!" Sakura blurted out. "I'm... I'm not going anywhere! I'm strong!" Her logic was confused but she hurried on, stumbling. Suddenly it was as if the Hokage was somehow responsible for everything, all the uncertainty and pain and horror, as if it was all her fault. "I didn't come this far for nothing. I just want what I'm owed. I want my forehead protector back!"

"So be it." The Hokage's voice was very soft. "The test begins now."

NOW.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: "The Master's Shadow, Part Two"**


	25. The Master's Shadow, Part Two

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: "The Master's Shadow, Part Two"**

* * *

NOW.

The word echoed and echoed in her mind, overpowering everything, all sensation. _The Torment genjutsu! _Sakura tried to prepare herself, but her vision cracked apart like glass, shattered into a million pieces. She was falling into an endless black void—

The girl found herself standing on a lake in a cold, gray dawn sky. Through the thick haze of fog she could barely see distant mountain peaks. Where was she? What was she doing here? She had been doing something… couldn't remember. Was this a dream? There was a horrible smell, a sick stench that made her gag and reel. Corpses. Layers and layers of corpses, floating in the water of the lake. Everything was totally silent. In the thick fog she could hear or see nothing.

The lake shook, churned, as if the earth beneath was breaking apart. A faint red beam of light shone up out of the lake. By some strange compulsion she dived into the cold frozen water, swimming down toward the light. She emerged into a chamber carved out of the rock at the bottom of the lake. A secret base. Now the girl saw what the red glow was—flickering emergency lights, wailing red siren shrieks. There were corpses of ninja here, too. From the trail of corpses, it was clear which way the battle had gone. She followed the trail into the tunnels.

The rock shook again, trembled. The walls splintered. Rubble and dust fell from the ceiling. What was that? What was happening? But somehow Sakura did not feel afraid and pressed on. Suddenly she came to it: an immense natural cave, hundreds of meters tall and even wider, buried a kilometer beneath the earth. The cave was filled with ice, glittering limestone icicles that dripped from the ceiling in long daggers. And in the middle of this cavern there was a terrible thing. It was immense, frozen, a gigantic metal and flesh construct covered in ice, fed by huge, black cables that burst from the floor and which thrust deep into its chest—like a giant frozen incubator, a metal and flesh womb. The thing shrieked, as if damaged, and then Sakura saw it—glittering there, gleaming—the crystal, the fetus, at the core of that womb. _The Annihilation Heart_.

The Annihilation Heart. She had seen it before, but she couldn't remember where. Couldn't remember... _why_?

"The complex is collapsing!" a man with flowing white hair yelled above the roar of battle. "We have to get out!"

"Not yet!" the voice of a woman shouted back. A familiar voice, like a winter reed. It seemed younger. "Get the crystal! The Annihilation Heart!"

The woman's words touched something in Sakura's memory. No, something was wrong. _This has happened before... I've seen it before! _

All around this terrible machine, in this frozen ice cavern, ninja were fighting and killing and dying. The cavern walls were cracking apart, reams of icicles broke and stabbed down into the struggling ninja. Everything shook wildly. The man with flowing white hair and the woman led a group of Konoha ninja, slashing their way through the ranks of stone-nin to the front of the shrieking machine. Suddenly there were Iwa ninja everywhere, enveloping them. "The crystal!" the man shouted.

_Dan_, Sakura remembered. The man's name was Dan.

Dan exploded, bursting apart as if from inside. A gold haze occupied the space his upper body had been. _Bakudan_, she thought idly. _Enshogan_. _Sougon_. The assassin was a stone-nin, an Iwa ANBU. The ninja's eyes shimmered red-orange through a mask that was a carved bear.

The woman screamed her lover's name, a scream of anguish. She ran at the Iwa ANBU. But Sakura only had eyes for the crystal in front of her. It was a seething heart, a steaming crystal blazing white with incomprehensible heat. Its light was so beautiful, so pure. So innocent. Sakura reached out for it—

An immense burning scalding, agony and pain that coursed through her hands, a searing white light that filled everything, she was screaming, and the fetus heart too, it screamed of—of—

_Torment_! Suddenly she remembered. _The test of strength, the genjutsu! It's all an illusion, it's not real!_

"Fuck!" Sakura cried out. With a great effort she pulled her hands back from the crystal. A machine shrieked unseen in a blinding light. But the crystal was like some sort of sucking force, a magnet, and she was drawn back. "No!" She could feel the genjutsu, sense the alien chakra of the Hokage in her own body. She tried to break it. Nothing happened. Her hands almost touched the crystal again. "NO!" Sakura screamed. "I won't lose!" With all her strength she started to pull herself away. "I won't let you torture me!"

From behind her, against the searing white light, came an all-encompassing blackness.

The girl turned—and behind her saw the shadow of a woman! It was gigantic, colossal, flaring up over the whole cavern, looming over it like a haunted god.

The shadow laughed.

FOOL, the shadow said. The words echoed in the burning light. ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU WANT?

She knew the shadow. It was the shadow of her sensei, her master—it moved, plunging down—and the master's shadow was Torment—

IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT—TO SEE—AS I SEE—

SEE—

—the shadow fell on her, engulfed her—screaming—the crystal exploded, an immense violent detonation of heat and energy, a bomb like the death of a star—and she was gone—

"Dan!" the woman screams.

Dan's upper body is a gold haze. He falls to the ground. The woman runs toward him. But the stone-nin, the Iwa ANBU, is blocking the way. Hate explodes in the woman's heart, something breaks deep inside. The stone-nin is too slow, almost helpless. With one stroke Tsunade breaks her neck. Then she is by Dan's side, by the man who is everything to her. His chest is a hole.

_No! Dan!_ Blood pours out everywhere from the hole, washing over her like a hot bath. She runs her hands across the wound. There's so much damage. _I have to save him_! Desperate she pours waves of chakra into Dan's body, draining what's left of her own. All around her the battle rages but she doesn't notice. Dan's body is warm in her arms. She knows if he's warm then he's not dead. But at last the flow of blood slows, stops with a shuddering gasp. And then he is so stiff and cold, cold as the stained ice beneath.

The battle is long over. Leaf-nins surround her, silent, awkward. Tsunade's whole body shakes with wracking sobs. "No," she whispers as she cradles her lover's corpse. "No. You lied. You said... you said it should have been..." She can only think of how he would always kiss her forehead, before a battle, the strands of his long silver hair falling against her own. Please be careful, she would say. And he would laugh, so soft, so strong. Not me, he would say. I'm nobody. But promise me you'll live. And she said yes. "No... don't you see... the war's over... we have peace now. Your dream. It should... you should have seen this day... Dan...

"It should have been you," Tsunade sobs. "It should have been you who lived!"

DEATH, the shadow whispered. Sakura's hands burned with fire, darkness was the world. WAR AND DEATH. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? The shadow swallowed her, annihilated her. Another vision came—

The woman sits behind a desk. The sun dazzles on the packed snow outside. Everything is so quiet, so peaceful. Into the office walks a young girl. The woman knows her at once, though they've never met. She used to have the same face. The girl's eyes are wide and green and bright with life, her cheeks smooth and soft. But there is something about her, something damaged. _This is a girl that has seen death_, the woman thinks. A pain wrenches the woman's heart. With a great effort she keeps her face blank.

"What do you want, girl?" the woman asks.

"Please!" Haruno Sakura says forcefully, with all the confidence she can muster. "Make me your apprentice!"

"And why, girl, why I do something like that?"

The girl's eyes are wide as full moons. "Because… because I can't stand being like this anymore! Relying other people's strength. Begging for it. I can't… I can't even protect the people I love. Train me, Hokage-sama. Please. I know I'm weak, I'm useless. But I… I can become strong. I'll do anything you ask, train however you want. Just give me the chance. I won't let you down. I promise."

The woman has been waiting for this moment, but when it comes she can't speak. _No, I can't. Never again! _Yet the Council's orders are clear. _I can't refuse. I can't accept. _The woman thinks of Dan again, and Nawaki, and even the someone she is afraid to think of. How like this young kunoichi Sakura they all were, once, how she had loved them. But they were all dead. And now Tsunade was alone. _No one... I have no one... _She stares at the girl who stands before her with such trembling hopes and fears. _And you... you're just the same as me. _The girl's teammates were gone, her sensei distant. She was alone. Just like her. But could the woman dare? Dare to love again... to love again and to care again and to accept the possibility of it all getting blown away...

"Fool," Tsunade says. "Don't make promises you can't keep. Let that be your first lesson... as my student..."

REGRET, the shadow said. DESPAIR AND LONELINESS. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? Sakura screamed, mind reeling. The crystal exploded, replaying in a loop, over and over again. All burned away into scattered atoms. Another vision, another tormented memory—

By the gates the woman waits. Heavy rain pounds the ground, muffling the world. But at last the survivors return. There are not many. They avoid her gaze, look away. She rushes through the crowd. A man catches her, holds her close. Orochimaru.

"Sweet princess," he says. His face breaks into a leer. "Smile for me. I have not seen it for such a long time..."

"Orochimaru!" she shouts. "Where is he?"

The rain slithers down Orochimaru's face. His long black hair hangs down in matted clumps. "Nawaki is dead, Tsunade."

The woman stumbles back. _Nawaki... my little brother_. Dead. But she had known he would die, had felt it in her bones. He had just been a little boy, running off with bright eyes to his first battle of the Second Ninja War. Just a weak little boy. Suddenly she cannot contain it, the pain and the agony. She screams, shrieking, lurching in the rain, until her lungs are burning and empty, and she collapses in Orochimaru's arms.

"Tsunade... your face..." Orochimaru grins. He reaches up a delicate white hand to touch her cheek. "Where is your smile now? Sweet princess... no... you are that no longer." He laughs, a rattling shaking hiss like a snake. "Now you are a queen... the Queen of Torment..."

PAIN, the shadow whispered. GRIEF AND SHAME. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? The torture of her sensei's memories burned through Sakura's mind like fire. "Tsunade-sensei!" she cried. "Stop!" But again the shadow swallowed her, swallowed her to its deepest heart—

The woman has her hand on Asuma's chest.

Her head throbs. Confused, half-formed thoughts overflow her mind. The conspiracy exposed this night is staggering. Sougon... Akatsuki... the Annihilation Heart. The world has changed, the fate of Konoha hangs by a single thread. But she doesn't care about any of that now. _Sakura_, she thinks. _What did you do?_

The girl walks into the operating room. She is covered in blood. She moves in a daze, blank and numb, and when she looks up her wide green eyes are dull with guilt, with self-loathing. _Her face... her face... _The woman's heart stops, she almost shrieks with pain. She knows that face. Knows it because it is just like her own.

"What have you done, girl?" she asks. The words catch in her throat. _What have_ I_ done? My god! My god! _

Tsunade feels as if her heart is being ripped out of her. She never expected this kind of reaction. She's no stranger to the cruelty, the horror of the shinobi way of life. But seeing Sakura like this... it's too much. Too much!

"I'm sorry," Sakura whispers, head held low. "Tsunade-sensei…I failed you. It was all my fault. Asuma… Beater… I didn't control my chakra..."

Tsunade barely hears her. She stares at Sakura's forehead protector instead. It's soaked through with Asuma's blood. Suddenly she is seized by the impulsive, rash thought that this forehead protector is the cause of everything bad that happened. And in that instant she hates that thing, she hates that symbol and all it represents, she hates herself. For the symbol is Torment.

A sudden hope bursts in her heart. _No!_ _I won't let Sakura become like me! It's not too late! _

"Give it to me," the woman says. "Your forehead protector. Give it to me."

"What?"

"From this moment, you are terminated. You are no longer a ninja."

"What—Tsunade-sensei…why…?"

Pain wrenches through the woman's chest, a moment of doubt. _She doesn't want to. She doesn't understand. _Tsunade is desperate to explain everything, that this is for her own good, that she's going to be happy now. But she can't, she doesn't know how. What effect could words have, how could Sakura ever grasp that she's not being punished, she's being saved? She would try to argue instead, to fight, try to get her forehead protector back... _Never! I can't let that happen! I have to push her away from this life right now! Even..._ _even if the only way to do that is... _

The woman's eyes are as blank as those of a dead man. And she whispers an echo of a word.

FEAR, the shadow says. FEAR AND HORROR. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? The agony, the overwhelming horror. Paralyzing fear. Unspeakable torture, violence. All of it… so much! Everywhere. "Stop!" she screamed. "Tsunade-sensei! I know! Enough—"

The woman is just a little girl. With bright eyes she goes off her to her first war, with Orochimaru and Jiraiya and Hiruzen-sensei. In the forests not far from home they wait. The waiting is horrible. As it drags on the girl's throat tightens, closes up until she can't breathe. "Do you know the mission?" Hiruzen-sensei asks them. And she can barely gasp, "I am a shinobi of the Leaf! The bad men are coming. Kill them all!"

It is far into the night before they come. But when they do the night bursts with redness, fire. The forest is burning. The cries of the bad men are everywhere, all around them. There is confusion, chaos, smoke and lightning and flashing, thundering weapons. Suddenly Tsunade is scared like she's never been before. Behind them there is another explosion of fire. The girl cowers behind a tree.

"I want to go home!" she wails, sobbing.

"This is your home now!" Hiruzen-sensei shouts.

The girl is in a blind terror. She runs to her sensei, the kindly, laughing man who is like a father to her. But the man's face is twisted into some wild demon she doesn't know. "Coward!" he shouts. "You stupid worthless girl, you're supposed to be a shinobi! You have a mission!"

"Please, Hiruzen-sensei! Let me go home!" the girl pleads.

The man seizes and twists Tsunade's hair. "Didn't you hear me? This is your home now! Kill those who have invaded it! Go! GO!" He throws Tsunade forward, straight into the frontlines. Around her there are dark shapes, silhouetted black by burning trees. A sword flashes down at her. The attack finally causes her training to kick in. The girl spins, dodging, pulls out a kunai to strike at the attacker. The edge slices down on the attacker's forearm. A huge hose of dark blood shoots out of the arm, splattering Tsunade's face. "Bitch!" she hears a young voice cry out. But the movement is not complete. Her other hand drives out and the kunai hits the bad man in the stomach. The bad man crumbles, falling to the ground. She attacks him again with the kunai, blades flashing. Again. Again. She is screaming. The dark shape does not move. But there are so many more dark shapes, so many more.

At last, in the morning, when the battle is over, Orochimaru and Jiraiya and Hiruzen-sensei find her. She stands in the middle of a pile of men as tall as her own little nine year old body, and her forehead protector is soaked with blood.

"Kill them all," the girl whispers. "Kill them all."

TORMENT, the shadow whispered. MADNESS. INSANITY. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? So many deaths. So much pain. "Stop!" she shouted. "Enough!" So much! Sakura felt her mind breaking apart—erasing—dissolving into a living hell—an endless scream—

The woman looms over the fallen girl.

The girl shudders violently. Hot tears leak down her cheeks, blood drips down from her scalded hands onto the floor. The girl stares at nothing, gaze blank and vacant. The screams of the Torment genjutsu still overflow her mind.

"Fool," Tsunade says. "That is what war is. That is what this life means. You do not want it." The sight of Sakura in so much pain wrenches her heart. She can't go on. She turns away before the girl sees her start to cry. A yawning guilt like she's never felt before burns down her chest. _But I had to_, she thinks. _She wouldn't go away! I had to make her understand! I had to save her! _

The girl's voice trembles behind the woman's back. "Why… why didn't you finish it?"

_Finish it? _The woman turns in shock. She doesn't understand.

The girl looks up at her. Her wide green eyes are not filled with fear, as Tsunade expected, with shame and defeat, but with something else. "If you… if you really hate me so much… if you really think it should have been me… then finish it. Kill me. I—I'm not afraid! I won't run away. Kill me!"

At last Tsunade understands. _Sakura hates me_. Their relationship was broken throat tightens, closes up until she can't breathe. "And why, girl, would I do something like that?" she barely gasps. _My god, she thinks I hate her! _Suddenly she can only think of the time they had spent together, as teacher and student. They are some of her most precious memories. Sakura's laughter, her warmth and innocence, her shyness. The way she furrowed her brow when she was thinking. The way she would cling to Tsunade's every word, the way she would smile when Tonton did something stupid. So brilliant, so fast and quick and sharp. How she would always surprise her. How after a long day's training they would sit beneath a tree and Sakura would read her favorite poetry aloud, and Tsunade would close her eyes and, for a time, forget her scars. But that was all over now. _I'm alone again. Utterly alone. But I accept that. I'm sacrificing myself to save her. It's the only way! _Sakura would never want to be a ninja again after what Tsunade had done. It was over...

But the girl isn't finished. Slowly she gets to her feet. Tsunade is stunned. She can't believe anyone could still have the strength to do that after being hit with Torment. The girl looks the woman in the eye, face to face. "Then… then let me go on the United Countries Embassy. I know… I'm weak. It was my fault Beater died. I know that. If I could sacrifice my life to bring him back, I would—but I can't. But what if… if I could become stronger? And then I could… bring someone else back? To make up for what I did. Please, Tsunade-sensei. I want… I need another chance."

Tsunade turns away from Sakura. She can't breathe, she's being strangled by her own throat. Her whole body trembles. She doesn't understand. Why won't the girl give up? Why won't she stop? _After all I did to push her away... _Could it... could it really be that she needed to be a ninja? _Did I make a mistake?_ The thought sickens Tsunade to her soul. _If this what she truly wants... I can't deny her... but then... this was all for nothing. Everything I just did. All for nothing! _

The woman chokes out the bitter words. "So... be it..."

TORMENT, cried the shadow. MADNESS. INSANITY. FEAR. HORROR. PAIN. GRIEF. SHAME. REGRET. DESPAIR. LONELINESS. WAR. DEATH. MADNESS. INSANITY. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? WHY? WHY?

The exploding crystal and the shadow seemed to fuse, suck her into a blinding white light that was darker than a black hole. And in her hands the fetus crystal had a face. It was the face of a girl, young as her, with smiling eyes and flowing strands of long black hair. The girl opened her mouth—and somehow Sakura knew that this was_ the last memory_—and that if she saw it she would go completely insane—

"Enough!" she screamed, half-mad. "Enough! Yes! I want it! I want it more than anything! I—"

WHY? cried the shadow.

"—because this is my life!" Sakura felt her own mind explode, burn away into nothingness. Hallucinations and memories fused together and both were real, both unreal. Somehow Sasuke was there, whispering in her ear. _Twice you lied and twice more. Don't you get it? Don't you get it?_ "No!" she screamed. "I didn't lie! Never! I need to be a ninja!" She struggled to articulate the words, to say something, anything. "All of us! We're all missing something, we're all alone! Just like you said before... we need a home, a place to belong to. A purpose. And Konoha is the only home I have! There's no place else for me to go. Tsunade-sensei, enough! ENOUGH—"

The white light shattered into a million pieces. The genjutsu cracked, vanished. Then the girl was flat on her back, floating on the quiet dark lake, staring at the distant, motionless stars.

Senju Tsunade the Queen of Torment stood right over her. She did not speak, but grasped Sakura by the arm to help her up.

Sakura got to her feet slowly, unsteadily. She stumbled and sank beneath the water several times. Blood from her burned hands dripped down into the water, spreading like red ink. She looked up at her sensei with wide, blurred eyes.

"I wanted you to go away," the woman said. "I wanted you to run as far away from this life as you could. But you're still here. That was your choice, your plan, not mine. Sakura… you are the most important person in the world to me. You are the daughter I never had. I love you… all I ever wanted was the best for you, for you to be happy. Please forgive me. I only meant to protect you. I was so afraid, you see. So afraid you would walk down the same path I had. So afraid that one day you would become like me."

The woman's face was blank, unreadable. But it was just a mask, Sakura knew. For the first time she knew. The mask was the god, the cold machine, the shinobi. But the heart was human. Sakura saw through it now, saw Senju Tsunade as she really was. Just an old, pathetic woman, delusional, desperate, lonely. Sakura wanted to laugh. To think that all this... all her suffering and pain... had been caused by something so terribly ironic, so terribly simple and mundane as love... Sakura could barely comprehend it. A torrent of emotions raced through her one after the other, blazing anger, then disgust, then a giddy freedom, then pity, and then, finally, nothing at all. Nothing but the truth.

"Tsunade-sensei," she whispered. "I won't ever be like you. I promise."

The woman looked away. For a long time she didn't speak. Between them, the white stone, the memorial to the Battle of Deathtrap, loomed strangely large. "Fool," she said.

Another long silence passed. Sakura knew the next words were hers. But all of a sudden she couldn't say them. All she could think of was a lake of floating corpses, a cave of frozen ice. A girl's screaming face, and a burning forest, and a promise. _This is what I want. This is what this life means._ There was no going back, not ever. At last she forced herself to speak.

"You... you said you would give me a second chance. You said when the Embassy got to Iwa, you would test me. Test my strength. Did... did I pass?"

The Hokage turned. Her dark eyes were gleaming, wet with tears. "Once there was a man who told me the secret. 'When there is a true desire in the heart and that desire is strong... that is when you find real strength that even you did not know you had!' Tomorrow, we come to Iwagakure. It is a place unlike anything you have seen before. It is a place so old that the stones speak of the scars of a thousand ages... so untamed the wild beasts cry in the night before rushing rivers in the black caves... so vast the four seasons are alive together in the span of a single mountain... and the men who live in that place have eyes so cold and hard, so brilliant and terrible, so strong to their utmost extremity, that it is a wonder they are not the undisputed masters of the world. And only if you know your own heart will you have the strength to endure. Beware! That is the true test. It started the day you were born. And it never ends."

The Hokage reached inside her robes. She drew out a familiar forehead protector. The metal plate flashed against the stars—the symbol of Konoha, the swirling leaf that represented the unity of the village, the ideals and dreams of its founders.

Sakura took the forehead protector in her hands. It felt heavier than before, somehow; maybe that was just because of her burned, flayed palms. She tied it around her head. The metal plate was cold against her forehead, the cloth of the band tight and scratchy. But again she was a genin of Konoha. A kunoichi. A ninja.

"I know," the girl said.

The Hokage bowed her head. A sudden wind blew across the lake, rippling the water, shaking the reflected stars. The Hokage's white robes fluttered, her long golden hair flapped against her face. It was as if the whole world was moving, trembling. The only thing that stayed still was the marble tombstone. It had not moved for seventeen years. "Dismissed," she whispered.

Sakura nodded. She kneeled and then started to walk away, quickly as she could, stumbling across the lake, down the mountain.

Senju Tsunade lingered on, watching that place where her dreams had gone to rest.

Next: **CHAPTER ****TWENTY-SIX****: "****The Village Hidden in the Stones****"**

* * *

**Author's Note**: This chapter concludes what I call the "prologue" of WILL OF STONE. I want to explain now why I wrote this part of the story the way I did, and where the story is going to go from here.

WILL OF STONE is about Sakura going to Iwa to take the chuunin exam. But before she got there, I wanted to spend a little bit of time setting up the pieces on the board first. I wanted to explore Sakura's backstory. I wanted to develop her relationship with Tsunade. I wanted to show off her cool new jutsu. Most of all I tried to set up the main theme of this fanfic, which is where strength comes from and what gives Sakura the strength to be a ninja. In the canon story Sakura is a cipher; we don't understand what her motivations are, or whether she even has any. Not here. Sakura is forced to confront the question of what she wants from the very first chapter—what am I doing here? What's my place in the world? Do I really want to be a ninja? And by the end of the "prologue" that question has been answered. Sakura has been fleshed out into a complicated, layered character.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way it played out.

I think the biggest knock you could make against the "prologue" is that it's too damn long. At ~80,000 words, the "prologue" clocks in at about the size of your average novel. Was that a mistake? To be frank, it probably was, just because it took up so much of my time (nearly a RL year to write). On the other hand, the length of the "prologue" makes Sakura's journey, her growth as a ninja in these first twenty five chapters, that much more meaningful. Taken by itself, the "prologue" is a stand-alone story, fully developed, with a complete character and plot arc. I believe the payoff was worth it.

The reader could very well stop reading at this point. Indeed, if you're satisfied with the end of Chapter 25, I urge you to consider that choice. Because from here on out the story is going to move in a very different direction. Think of it almost like a reboot, a new novel. The plots, the ideas that dominated the "prologue" are finished. And all the stuff that was implied and set up in the "prologue" is now going to come to the front.

I will highlight three major elements:

1) Realism. This story is supposed to be a more "realistic" take on a world of killer assassins. But in fact the "prologue" is no different from anything in Kishimoto's canon. The good guys always win. Nobody important dies. Asuma gets his eye back. Sakura gets her rank back. And so on. The reason for all these happy endings is that I wanted to keep the "prologue" consistent with the canon. I wanted to fill in some of the blanks left by Kishimoto, but I didn't want to _change_ those blanks in a way that contradicted the larger reality of his universe. Sakura's journey in the "prologue" is not a changed story, only a story that has not yet been told.

That ends now. Starting next chapter the canon is going out the window. Iwa is going to be a full-blown Alternate Universe, a place where no one is safe, where weakness is counted in corpses and strength is earned in blood. Child assassins from different countries fighting each other in a violent trial with huge political repercussions? _You better believe people are going to die_. Major, important characters will not make it to the end. The status quo is going to be totally trashed. And if you don't like that, then please stop reading here.

2) Epicness. WILL OF STONE was advertised as an "epic novel." And now it will be. Sakura's agonizing redemption arc is done. Her story is now going to expand into what is supposed to be the overarching conflict of this book, the United Countries' fight against the Confederacy to preserve world peace. Sakura's isn't trying to save herself, she's trying to save the world. While her growth as a ninja is still very important, that personal story is subsumed into this larger, epic story. As a result, Sakura's character arc in Iwa is going to feel quite different from what it was in the "prologue." If you don't like that, then stop reading here.

3) Romance. Sakura is about to get a boyfriend. The relationship between the two of them will take up a huge chunk of what happens in Iwa. It will be a microcosm of the larger epic conflict and at the same time the major driver of Sakura's growth as a ninja. It is, in many ways, the heart of WILL OF STONE and what this story is all about. The romance will change Sakura, it will reveal what makes her truly strong. The answer is surprising. This is going to be a Sakura as you're never seen her before, as you've never imagined. Once again, if you don't like that, stop reading here.

But if do... if any of this sounds exciting, sexy, or dangerous... then don't stop. Turn the page. Turn to the next chapter. Turn to Iwa, to the trials that will decide the fate of the world. Everything is going to change. There's no going back.

The real story of WILL OF STONE starts now.


	26. The Village Hidden in the Stones

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it. **  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: "The Village Hidden in the Stones"**

* * *

The bridge was still and silent as a dead man. _The stone-nin are behind the walls_, Sakura thought, but even when they crossed over the river to the other side, she saw no one. There weren't even guards at the open gate leading into the village. _Where are they?_ There should have been a greeting party, or at least some protestors. _Someone, anyone_.

Instead the United Countries Embassy walked alone through the streets of Iwa.

"Where's everybody?" Kankuro asked. He shouted to the empty air. "Hey! I said where you are little stone shits? Scared of us, is that it?"

Baki seemed to come out of nowhere. "Shut up," he said, and knocked his student upside the head.

"Ow!" Kankuro laughed as he rubbed his temple. "Just havin' some fun, Baki-sensei. I knowthey ain't scared. Scared people don't leave their gates wide open for the enemy to walk through, do they?"

"No," Baki said. "They are not scared, just confused. The stone-nins cannot decide whether we are guests or enemies. Some consider the treatment of the Embassy in Hiroshiki and elsewhere to be… unfortunate. They wished to welcome us to Iwa in an honorable way. Others did not even want us to enter the village. The two sides agreed on a compromise: we would simply be left alone. While the Embassy enters Iwa, no one is to come out on the streets under penalty of law."

_So it's true, then. _It was just like Tsunade-sensei had were factions here, clashing powers. _Puppets in a shadow war._ "And is the Tsuchikage happy about that?" Sakura asked.

"As far as I know, Sougon Sawar is never happy about anything."

The silence of Iwa became the silence of the ninja who walked it. A ghost town, it was, dumb and deaf, swallowing up their words. Soon there was only the sound of footsteps, the creak of wagon wheels, echoing against barren roads. They passed sloping towers of carved rock, and wooden storefronts with tiled roofs of red brick, and houses of steel and glass. In the distance, over it all, loomed a huge hill of white stone. _The Overlook_, Sakura knew. The place where the Dreamstone River split in two, the bulwark that held back the rushing water from flooding the village. Iwa had been founded in that place. It seemed as cold and strange as all the rest. _The heart of Iwa_, she thought, _a heart of stone_.

Just then Kankuro pointed in front of him. "Hey, look! I see someone." He grinned. "Well, well. This must be a pleasant surprise for you, sweet sister. It's your favorite friend."

A figure was standing in the street, waiting for them. His posture was awful, his hands were stuffed in his pockets, and his face was screwed up in a bored sigh. But when Sakura saw him she smiled at once.

"Shikamaru!" Ino yelled.

"Yo," he said, waving. "I see you."

Ino ran over to hug her former teammate, while Chouji punched him in the shoulder. Shikamaru's other friends gathered around to exchange greetings. He smiled at Sakura, nodded at Kankuro, and blushed slightly when he saw Temari. Temari rolled her eyes.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Chouji cried. "It's seriously creepy. Like, sometimes I see faces staring at me out of windows and stuff, but they never come out. How can you live here, Shika? Why'd the chuunin exam have to be _here_?"

Shikamaru laughed. He wore a chuunin examiner jacket, overlarge for his slight, wiry frame, which made him look years older than he was. "You'll get used to it. Trust me, Chouji. The food here is _fantastic_."

"And are you our guide, Examiner Nara?" a voice asked behind them, soft as a trickle of ice water. It was the Hokage. She sat astride her white stallion, her pale skin shadowed by the late afternoon sun.

Shikamaru snapped to attention and kneeled. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Director Doi sent me to show the way. He wants all the foreign genin placed together in a prepared compound."

"Very well, then. Lead on."

Shikamaru led them south, down neat avenues flanked on either side by old stone houses. "This is the Aoyama district," he explained. "Nice, upper class residential area, plus some culture sites like the Chuunin Exam Stadium. You guys are gonna be staying in the Zoo. Well, it used to be a zoo, before the war, so that's what they still call it. Name aside, it's actually pretty comfortable. Usually the stone-nins stuff the foreign genin in hotels, but this time there were so many, they redecorated the place just for you."

"What about the rest of the delegations?" Sakura asked. "There must be tens of thousands of people in Iwa for the exam."

"Every village's doing their own thing. Hokage-sama rented a bunch of villas near Tsukai Gardens… that's in the Shitamachi district, north and west of here. Ah. Here we are. Welcome to the Zoo."

He pointed to a large, gated compound before them. Above the high stone walls, Sakura could see the twisting branches of banyan trees. To her surprise, she could also see Iwa ANBU. There were at least a dozen of them, patrolling along the walls. She wasn't sure whether this place was supposed to be a safe haven or a prison, but either way it would be hard to trespass.

At the entrance to the Zoo was a set of heavy brass metal doors. The brass was polished to a sheen, and Sakura could see her reflection in it. She looked different than she had remembered; only that morning had she switched back into her old uniform. A tight-fitting, spandex black and green suit covered her body from upper arm to thigh. Over the suit she wore brown leather chest armor, a leather belt with hanging ninja gear, and brown knuckle gloves and open-toed sandals. Like the rest of the UC genin, she also wore an open vest of white cloth with the symbol of the United Countries stitched on the back. And like the rest of the genin, she had a metal forehead protector. _I look like a ninja again. I am a ninja. This is who I am._

"It has not changed, not in seventeen years," the Hokage said. Beneath the shadow of the high walls, her eyes were dark gloomy pools, her gold hair was muted to overcast gray. She bowed her head, and for a moment seemed half a shadow herself. "I presume only the genin are allowed inside, is that right?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," said Shikamaru. "Director Doi is waiting for them. Just go through the doors."

Senju Tsunade fixed her shadowed gaze on Sakura. "You first, girl."

_Me first. _Her sensei's words from the night before echoed in her mind. _You are my representative in the chuunin exam… you will be the leader of the United Countries._ Leader. The word was strange to her. She had never been a leader in her whole life. But now she was.

For some reason Sakura turned to look behind her. The whole Embassy was there, and every genin, hundreds of them, leaf and rain and sand alike. Ino and Chouji and Anake. Aumono and Erima and Tenshe. Neji and Tenten and Lee. Kankuro with his smirking painted face, Temari and her hard eyes and tight pressed lips. They were all watching her. Waiting.

The girl turned back, to the reflection of her face in the brass doors, and with both hands she pushed them open.

A blast of light hit her, the afternoon sun blazing in the crack between the doors. With a clang they swung open the rest of the way, and then she was walking into the Zoo, into a large courtyard shaded by banyan trees. There were teenage ninja everywhere. Sakura had a flashback to the last chuunin exam she had taken, in Konoha. But this place was so much bigger. There were so many more people.

In a glance she counted the forehead protectors of at least a dozen different villages. The ninjas stared at her as if dissecting an insect, cold and clinical. Sakura met their eyes. She saw a boy with a face like a shark and rows of teeth like daggers. She saw a girl with skin white as ice, and a small boy with tangled hair red as blood. She saw a boy-thing with cheeks like bark and a beard like falling leaves. She saw a young man with a gaping black hole where his nose was supposed to be. She saw a boy who wore a mask of a hundred mirrors. She saw a tiny man with jade rings in his hair, and a hulking woman who carried a scythe of paper, and a boy whose chest was scrawled with glowing black seals. She saw a girl who sat atop a crocodile, and a boy with a longbow who stroked a flapping crane, and a man with a net of living eels that glittered like rainbows. She saw an ugly fat boy all in smoking armor plate, and a strange child with a face like a corpse covered with stitches. The most famous, the most brilliant, the strongest genin in the world. And her.

"The United Countries Embassy," Shikamaru announced.

A tall stone-nin stood up at the far end of the courtyard, behind a long table of carved wood. "I see you. I am Tokako Doi, the director of the 54th Iwa Chuunin Exam. You have come a long way to take part in this exam. Nevertheless, you must be warned. This is the most competitive chuunin exam in history. Most of you will not pass. Indeed, many will be killed. In previous Iwa chuunin exams, 90% of all entrants failed. In this exam, we expect that number will increase to 99%. In previous exams, 20% of all entrants died. In this exam, we expect that number to increase to as high as 50%." A murmur passed through the UC genin at Doi's words. "Now all of you have a choice. You may register with me to enter the exam. Or you may simply not register. It is up to you. Whatever you have been told, whatever pressures you feel, remember that it is your life at stake. There will be many other exams, many other chances. Think very carefully. This is the most important decision of your life. Now, if you are still determined to take the 54th Iwa Chuunin Exam, please step forward."

Sakura didn't look back. She walked straight across the yard to the long table. Temari and Kankuro followed close behind.

Doi sat down behind the table. He was a thin, skeletal man, as black and spindly as a widow spider. "And you three are the first," Doi said. "Like lambs to the slaughter." He leaned over the table, scribbling on a sheaf of forms.

"Naw, you got it backward," Kankuro said. "We're the lions, not the lambs. Don't you know who we are?"

"I know who you are. Sign here."

There was a stack of forms to sign, releases of information, statements of law. While they signed Doi placed three small boxes on the table. Inside each box was a metal key, about the size of Sakura's index finger, silver and shimmering. On the side of each key Sakura saw etched the number '266.'

"These are your chuunin exam keys," Doi said. "Once you touch them, they will go 'live' and fix permanently to your specific chakra signature. These keys will identity you, unlock your rooms, and grant you access to the exam. You must keep them in touch contact with your skin at all times. If, for any reason, you break contact with the key for more than ten seconds, it will go 'dead' and you and your team will fail out of the exam. Do you understand?"

Sakura nodded, and reached for her key. As soon as she touched it the key began to glow, pulsing white. The key was warm in her hand, almost hot. The feeling was oddly pleasant. Her two teammates followed suit.

Doi stared at them. "Haruno Sakura of Konoha, Sabaku Temari and Sabaku Kankuro of Suna, as sponsored by Hokage Senju Tsunade. You are the 266th team to enter the 54th Iwa Chuunin Exam. The First Trial begins at midnight in two days. Meet at the Overlook for further instructions. I wish you the best of luck. You shall need it."

"Thank you, Director-sama." Sakura bowed.

"And a word of warning, for you three especially. As long as I am Director, this place is safe. But the rest of Iwa is not. If you wish to go outside the compound, do so at your own extreme risk. I see you."

"Oh, sure," Kankuro said. "Who'd ever want to get out of a _Zoo_?"

When they turned around, the courtyard was already a blur of motion. Teams of UC genin were registering for the exam all along the long wood table. Not a few of the genin seemed to holding back, however, scared by Doi's warning. Sakura saw that Ino and Chouji were two of them. They were sitting with Shikamaru under a large banyan, gesturing at each other hotly. She thought about going over, but somehow it didn't seem to be worth it.

Team Tsunade found their room on the upper floor of one of the stone buildings overlooking the courtyard. The metal door was marked with the number '266,' with a lock about chest high. Temari put her key into the lock and slid open the door. Inside was a large, carpeted room, with wood paneled walls, three silk-sheeted poster beds, brass writing desks, a television set, an air conditioner, a window, a closet, and an attached bathroom.

"Fucking Sage of Six Paths, this place fucking stinks," Kankuro said.

A faint smell was wafting from the room, vaguely familiar. The renovators had tried to cover it up but had not been successful. "I think this building used to be where they kept the monkeys," Sakura said.

"You telling me we're smelling _ape shit_?"

"Why, dear brother," Temari laughed, "it feels like roses compared to your room back home."

There was nothing to do but to shrug off their packs and lay out their things. Sakura had brought little beyond clothes and standard ninja gear, nor had Temari, but Kankuro had a whole trunk of puppetry to organize. She picked a bed by the window and sat down.

_Well, now what?_ Sakura looked at her two teammates, and they looked back at her. The Sand Siblings. They were not her friends, she knew that. But not her enemies, either. Comrades? Was that the right word? They would be living together now, and fighting together. Sakura realized then that she knew nothing about them. Nothing about what they were really like.

Kankuro broke the silence. "Here, gimme your key," he said to Sakura. He threaded a slim metal chain from his puppet toolkit through the hole in the handle, making a necklace. "So you won't lose it."

Sakura nodded. She put the key around her head and tucked it into the hollow between her breasts, warm and hard next to the bare skin. "Thanks," she said. Then she added, "It'll be dark soon. We should go train."

Temari laughed. "Train? Don't you have enough bruises from the last thrashing I gave you?"

Something about the other girl's tone turned Sakura cold. "We have to learn to work together, if we want to pass the exam. Let's try to get to know each other."

"Is that how you leaf-nins do things? _Let's all be friends_?" Temari mocked. "Where do you think you are? In Konoha, with that loudmouth half-wit Uzumaki, and your precious Uchiha boyfriend? Get real."

Sakura stood up. "And how is that you sand-nins do things?"

"Us? We just do our job. Your sensei and my brother put us together for political reasons. I don't like it, but I accept it. We'll make a decent enough team. You do your job, and we'll do ours."

"Fine. It'll be that way, if that's what you want. But I don't think you get it, Temari. _You lost_. Your and your whole village, you're losers, you tried to fight with us and you got your asses kicked back to the desert. Then we had to go over there and save you from yourselves. You see this?" She pointed to her forehead protector. "That means I'm a leaf-nin. That means I'm in charge on this team. And I don't want any more of your mouth. Got that?"

"You little shit—" Temari started, reaching for her fan, but her brother stayed her hand.

"Don't pick this fight, sister," Kankuro said. His eyes were wide, surprised and a little shocked. "It's… not worth it."

Temari pressed her lips into a tight white line. "A new attitude, is it? Cute. You can say whatever you want. The truth will come out on the battlefield, it always does. Come, brother."

The Sand Siblings went out, slamming the door, and then Sakura was alone in the room. She sat back down. She wasn't even sure what was behind her outburst. _Why did I do that? _It seemed like something Tsunade-sensei would do, not her. _I shouldn't have fought with them._

Just then there was a knock on the window.

She looked out through the glass at the cheery round faces of Shiranui Genma and Yamashiro Aoba. The two leaf chuunin examiners were rolling a cart stacked high with letters and packages. "Heya, little Sakura, found ya," Genma said. "These are for you."

He handed Sakura a stack of folded-up letters. The girl knew the handwriting on them at once. They were from her mother. "They've been piling up ever since you left Konoha," Aoba explained. "Couldn't deliver them to the Embassy, so they ended up here."

The two examiners went on their way, whistling some dirty song. Sakura stared at the letters in her hand. _There's got to be at least twenty of them_. For there to be so many, her mother must have written one every other day. International mail was not cheap. _How could she afford to send them all the way to Iwa? It must have cost her half her salary. _

She opened the first envelope, dated from May 14th, the day after they left on the Embassy. The envelope had two letters in it, one from her mother and one from Kyoki. She read the one from her sister first:

* * *

_SAKURA! I miss you so much. I no its only been one day but I still miss you! Mom said you ar going all over the world. that must be so cooool! i wanna go on the Embasy too. But Mom said i was too little to go places yet i have to grow up first, like my BIG SIS! Konoha is boring. Everything is the same all the time and school is so borin. Plus all the cool people are in Iwa. But I love my friends here. Juju is my best freind now. So is Mimi, but she says you can only have one best freind, but Juju says you can have a lot of best freinds as many as u want. I think Juju is right. we should all be best freinds. yesterday Juju came over to play stuffed animaels with me. Oh! Today a man named Mr. Ogata came to visit us from far away. mommy says he was daddy's freind. I think he is a very nice man and gave me a BIG PINK teddy bear. I named him Mr. Flufy because hes so so soft! Mr. Ogata and mommy went for a walk in the Steam Gardens, and I wanted to come, but they said no. so Juju and Mimi came over to play. We have a lot of fun. SAKURA, come back soon!_

_HUGS XXXX KISSES  
Your little sis,  
KYOKI_

* * *

Then she read the second letter:

* * *

_Dear Sakura:_

_ I am told you will not read this letter until you arrive at Iwa. But your sister and I are still going to write to you, as often as we can. You must know that you are in our thoughts always.  
_

_Sakura, I can't fully understand what you are going through right now. I have never been a ninja. But I know it is not easy. You are a very private person, and that is your strength. But in times like this you don't have to bear it all alone. Please, reach out to your friends. Let them help you.  
_

_Well, now you must think I am nagging you. I am your mother, so I can't help it. We can talk about other things. Did you open the package I gave you? I made you your favorite baked cookies and other sweets. You probably ate it right away!  
_

_You may be wondering how we are doing. Kyoki misses you terribly, and it has only been one day. I wish you were back home, too, but I understand why you left. Other than that everything is well. In fact, something very nice happened today. An old friend, Ogata Shingo, just stopped by the village to chat. He was one of your father's best friends. He would have loved to meet you.  
_

_I know we will see each other soon. Be safe, and be happy. I love you always. _

_Mom_

* * *

_Who the fuck is Mr. Ogata?_ Sakura wondered. The question proved to be prescient. By the second letter, Ogata Shingo was putting flowers on her father's grave. By the fifth letter, Ogata Shingo was paying for the postage of the mail to Iwa. By the eighth letter, Ogata Shingo was spending nights in their apartment. By the thirteenth letter, Ogata Shingo was preparing to move into their apartment. By the sixteenth letter, Ogata Shingo had not only moved in but was asking Kyoki what kind of weddings she liked. And in the final letter her mother wrote, "_I love him_, _oh, you don't know how much I love him, he is like your father, he is a great man, and today he asked me to marry him and I said yes_."

Sakura felt nothing. Oh, the facts were clear enough. She had been gone all of one month and her mother was engaged to a person she had never met. Yet the fact of her mother's betrayal did not move her. It was as if it was all happening to someone else, not her at all. _I am so calm_, she thought. _It doesn't touch me._

Sakura sat down to write a letter back. She scribbled for a long time, filling up a dozen sheets of paper. When she finished she did not even remember what she had written. _I can't feel anything. I must have used it all up last night, there's no more left._

It was dark outside, and the stars were coming out. She had meant to find a mailbox to mail her letter, but afterward she did not want to go back to the room which smelled of ape shit. Instead she jumped onto the roof of the stone building. Here, five stories up, though the high walls still hid the rest of Iwa, she could look out over the Zoo. The air was sharp and clear. From below she heard a hubbub of voices, drifting in the summer sky, but could not make out the words.

"Sakura-chan!" a familiar, happy voice piped up. "I found you."

The girl turned to face the boy behind her. "What do you want, Lee?"

Rock Lee grinned stupidly. "Sakura-chan… I made you a present. Congratulations! You got your forehead protector back. I knew you would."

There was something strange about the way he sounded, as if his tongue was knotted, slurring his speech. She could smell the alcohol on the boy's breath. "You're drunk," Sakura said.

"No I am not! I just had a little sip, that's all. That's all. Neji's fault… Neji said girls play hard to get. He said don't give up. See? I made you a present. You liked it so much, here…"

The boy pulled out a glowing white kunai from his pouch, fumbling with it. Another chakra-cast kunai, Sakura was not surprised to see. He had made another one. Lee swung the kunai, almost cutting himself. Sakura had to wrest it away from him. Lee almost fell, and stumbled into Sakura's arms.

Lee smiled. "You like it, don't you? Anything for you, Sakura-chan. My love. My looove…" The drunken boy leaned in close, stretching out his hands around her. "Sakura-chan, your beauty is astounding…"

"No, Lee. Stop."

Usually a word was enough. But this time the boy didn't stop. His eyes were wide and glassy, his cheeks red with wine. "Don't run, Sakura-chan! You are my girlfriend, aren't you?"

"No, Lee. We're just friends."

"Maybe you just don't know it yet," Lee said again. He wrapped his hands around her shoulders, gripping her so hard it hurt. His face leered above her, wild and needy and revolting, thick black eyebrows furrowed tight, small lips puckering, making wet sucking noises.

Sakura slapped him.

Lee drew back, stunned. He cradled his cheek as if Sakura had hit him with a crowbar.

"No," Sakura said. She made her words as firm and hard as possible. "_No_. I don't want any more of your gifts. Do you understand? I don't love you, I don't even like you. Now go away. _Go_. _Away_."

He blinked. Thick eyebrows quivered. "But you… you called me the #1 Most Romantic Ninja…"

"Fool," Sakura said.

The boy stared at her. He stared… and stared… and stared. His eyes were like dead black orbs, like coal stones. At last Rock Lee slunk away without another word.

Sakura thought her face would be flushed, her heart would be pounding. But she was calm and cold as ice. _I shouldn't have done that_, she thought. She should have been gentle, but somehow she was forgetting how.

A wind blew from the north, over the walls of the Zoo. The cold metal of her ninja headplate pressed her skin, and against her chest the chuunin exam key was hot to the touch. Suddenly it felt as if the Zoo was like a cage, smothering her, suffocating her. All at once she wanted to get out of there.

Sakura leaped off the roof, rolling on the courtyard tiles, and pushing chakra to her feet ran straight up the high stone wall. In an instant she was vaulting over the top. Two ANBU were in front of her, and though one reached for his sword the other stayed him, and they did not bar her way. Then she running down the other side, out of the Zoo.

Into the Village Hidden in the Stones.

She did not know where she was going. She only knew she that she wanted to run. She ran from roof to roof, jumped from street to street. Iwa pulsed beneath her, a glitter of lights, a blur of figures, men in braids and women waving bamboo fans, naked babies and laughing children. The foreigners were locked behind cages, and it was safe to come out again. She ran and ran, until she had run out of the village, run across the bridge into the forest on the other side, and there was nowhere to run to. She stopped to catch her breath, leaning against a large moss-covered rock.

_This is the Sagewood_, she realized, remembering maps of Iwa she had studied. A great forest to the north of Iwa, so named for the Sage of Six Paths who had walked its paths. Sakura looked around. Faint starlight shone down through gaps in the canopy, illuminating huge twisted black trees. Locusts trilled from a thousand places, and frogs croaked in hidden ponds. A wind rustled through the leaves, making the branches dance.

It almost reminded her of the forests back home. But the trees of Konoha were redwoods, tall and straight, spreading dappled shadows over bright streams, nestling beds of wild dandelions. No, the Sagewood was not like that. It was a dark, primal place. Thick black trunks crowded close together, twisting nets of grey-green needles. Misshapen roots wrestled beneath the soil. The air smelled of rotting wood. This was a place of deep silence and brooding shadows, and it was no place that she knew.

And when Sakura turned to look behind her, she saw that the rock she leaned against was no rock at all, but a face tipped sideways. It was larger than she was, made of a thousand granite bricks, and as many years older, with a nose cracked in half by winter ice, and crumbling cheeks pocked with lichen. _The face of a god_, she knew. _This must be part of some__ ruined temple, buried in the forest. _

The eyes of the dead stone face glowed.

For a moment the girl thought the face had come alive. But then she realized the back of the stone head had been worn away, and light was coming from behind it, through the pits of the eye sockets. She climbed on top of the face to get a better look.

A gleam of light winked below her, far in the distance. The light was white and bright and strange, and it looked like nothing so much as a star in the night sky. A star that had fallen to earth.

_Would anyone care that it's gone?_ she wondered. _There are so many stars, and they all look the same. Would anyone even notice? _Only once, she thought, when it was falling, and it blazed a streak of fire across the sky, only then would men see. A flash. And then again they would be blind.

The girl walked forward, toward the star fallen in the woods.

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER T****WENTY-SEVEN****: "A ****Summer**** Wood" **

**Author's Note:** This is my response to a few reviews [written 3/15/12]:

_1. **Selene344:**_ _"For just been the prologue, this story has been amazing so far. For the realism and the gritty truth you've presented as the life of a ninja. It also means this story is going to be really, really, really long. Bonus!"_

Yeah, it's gonna be really, really long. From your perspective that may be a bonus but honestly from mine it's not :(. I've been writing this fanfic for two years now and based on my calculations, at my present rate of progress, I'll be done in six more years. Like Sakura, I don't give up and I finish what I start. But goddamn, what a bitch.

_2. **XxseikaxX**:_ _"I feel the need to address your review count. I say it should be more than what it is! The only reason I can think of that may have discouraged any readers to get up to this point in the story is probably the first chapter. I know I was. I guess it was due to the fact that the beginning chapter was completely out of the norm for me. It was new, and I was uncertain on what direction this story might take off. But, boy, I am glad I pulled through! Definitely one of the best reading expereriences I've had."_

Thank you so much for the detailed review. It's praise like yours that really keeps me going on this slog. Also glad you pointed out my shitty review count. Do I notice the fact that a random piece of one-shot derivative crap can attract 500 reviews, while my 28-chapter epic barely breaks double digits? Yes. Does that piss me off and make me question my story and my own talent and direction as a writer? Yes. So I don't know what the fuck people see in mindless crap or why the fuck no one wants to read something that, you know, is actually a little bit original.

Guess I just want to say I am truly grateful to EVERYONE who read this story. And even more grateful to EVERYONE who took the time to write a review. The few the proud I guess. Thank you so much.


	27. A Summer Wood

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: "A Summer Wood"**

* * *

Sakura walked through the Sagewood, following the light. She pushed her way through dark tangles of branches. She splashed across streams choked with dead leaves. Somewhere high in the mountains a cuckoo called, lonely and faint.

Soon the ground sloped downward, plunging beneath the forest into some sort of deep ravine. Stones covered the ravine cliffs, littering the floor in huge crumbling piles. _This is the ruined temple_, Sakura realized. Moss grew on stone idols like hair. Roots sunk down through the wreckage of former shrines. Branches twisted up from broken temple walls. In the center of the ravine, a huge pine tree, the biggest tree Sakura had ever seen, squatted on the ruins of a pyramid-like tower. Its massive trunks stretched in every direction, overspreading the sky, bending toward the ground.

And in front of this pine tree she saw the source of the gleam of light, the fallen star. It was a sword.

The sword was thrust deep into a stone head, buried in the solid black granite. A katana. Starlight rippled off the blade, caught the edge of it, made the metal gleam as white as ice.

She reached out a hand and gripped the hilt of the katana. It was cold. She pulled, then pulled again with all her strength, but the sword didn't budge from the stone. It was like they were fused together. She was bending down to look at the blade more closely when she saw the inscription. It was neither carved, nor stamped; the tiny characters were somehow embedded into the edge of the blade itself. And the words said:

I SEE WITH EYES IN THEIR LAST EXTREMITY

"_I see with eyes in their last extremity_." Sakura knew the words. It was a line from an old poem. Almost unbidden, by instinct, as in an echo, she remembered the words that followed, and in the darkness she spoke them aloud: "_Long is the night to I who am awake_."

"That's true for both of us," a voice said behind her.

The girl turned.

A boy stood there. He was tall and thin, and wearing a plain gray robe, but elsewhere his features were all in shadow. Through the night, Sakura glimpsed the white of his smile.

"Forgive me for asking, but are you trying to steal my sword?" the boy asked. The voice was soft and cutting all at once, like a knife made from smoke.

Sakura was flustered. "Uh, no. I, uh, I was just—I was wandering…"

"Ah. I thought not. Besides, you don't seem to be a very good thief."

Sakura had to laugh. "I guess not."

The boy smiled again. "In that case, I'll tell you the secret, if you wish to pull the sword from the stone. Look." The boy gestured with his open hand toward the blade.

Sakura saw. The metal of the blade started to glow, molten red with heat. It grew hotter and hotter, first ruby red, then diamond white. Ripples of heat sloughed off the sword, and the stone beneath cracked.

"Go ahead," the boy said behind her. "Pull."

She grabbed the hilt and pulled. The sword came out with a sudden motion, moving through the granite as easily as through hot fat. Sakura held the katana before her, raised it high. Waves of burning heat shimmered around it, distorting the white steel. It was beautiful, extraordinary. She turned the blade, and in the glittering mirror surface suddenly she saw the boy's face reflecting behind her.

The stone-nin's eyes were burning gold.

_Enshogan_! Sakura reacted on pure instinct. She pivoted with all her speed and swung the sword in an arc behind her. The boy ducked just before Sakura took off his head. Instead she hit a granite pillar behind him. The superheated sword sliced the rock in half, and the top of the pillar tumbled to the ground with a hissing thud.

For a moment the boy looked at her with wide eyes—eyes dark and dim, now. Then he laughed. "I fear that you're not a very good murderer, either," he said.

Sakura stumbled back, breathing hard. The sword cooled in her hand, the heat dissipating rapidly. In the fading light she could see the boy's forehead protector, a rock carved against a rock, the symbol of Iwa. And she could see his eyes, dark and slitted. _Heat… the power to control heat—the bloodline power of the Enshogan eyes…_ She should have realized.

"You're a Sougon," Sakura said.

The boy inclined his head. "My name is Sosano."

_Sougon Sosano_. She knew the name. Of course she knew it. "What… what do you want?"

"A strange question. You trespassed into my garden in the dead of night, and then you stole my sword, and then you tried to kill me with it. And you ask me what I want?" The boy's tone was one of great amusement. He smiled, a glimpse of white teeth. "Please believe me, Haruno Sakura. If I meant to kill you, you would already be dead."

They stared at each other. Sakura's face was flushed, her heart was pounding. She was not sure what to do. Long moment after long moment passed.

"I'm sorry," she said at last. "I… didn't mean to intrude."

Sakura offered the katana back to the boy, hilt up. Sosano took it. His hand grasped Sakura's own on the sword hilt.

Just then the sun came up, peeking out from behind Sakura. The light threw the whole ravine into relief. Colossal ruins seemed to appear as out of thin air, stone walls and stone pyramids and stone towers and stone faces, thousands of them, staring down at her with mossy black granite eyes. Over the dead ruins grew living things, trees so tall they seemed to wrestle the sky, creeper vines like packs of giant snakes, wild flower beds of purple glories and blue irises and yellow mountain roses. _It's beautiful_, she thought, _so beautiful and peaceful and lonely. _

"The night is over," Sosano said, his voice soft as smoke. "But we are both still awake. It was fate that brought you here today, Sakura. Without your wandering, we would have missed this dawn."

Sakura noticed then that his hand was still on hers, lingering on it, hot to the touch. The boy seemed very close. She could smell him, his scent, like the forest, like wet grass, like ripe chestnuts and leaves and mushrooms and old knotted bark. His skin was dark, his body lean and muscular, his face handsome and regal. And as Sakura looked up into the boy's eyes, into the slitted pupils dark as shining ink, the boy smiled.

Suddenly in her mind she saw another face. The face of the dead assassin she had seen in the Kazekage Palace, the face of the masked ninja she had fought in a burning forest. It was the same face—the same eyes, the eyes most of all, eyes coiled with inflamed blood vessels, eyes that were gold flames. _Sougon_.

She jerked back her hand and backed away, almost stumbling on a stone.

Sosano's eyes followed her quietly. "Are you all right, Sakura?"

"You're a Sougon," Sakura said again, the words confused in her mouth. "You're the Tsuchikage's son."

The boy laughed. "And so I am, I won't deny it. Does that trouble you?" With a single smooth motion he took the katana and slid it into the scabbard at his waist. "You should not be. This is not the place for troubles."

Sakura backed away a few more steps. _I should not be here_. "I must go," she managed to say.

"If you wish. I hope you will return, however. You have come to the right place. It must be fate, for so few ever do."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, despite herself.

Sosano's dark eyes glittered in the dawn. "The foreigners never understand. The buildings they see, the streets, the sculptures. They see the surface. But that is not Iwa. Iwa is the roots beneath. Iwa is the moon in the pines. Iwa is dew in the dusk. Iwa is the mating call of deer, Iwa is mist and haze and flocks of wild geese, Iwa is a great ginkgo tree, Iwa is a field of ripe oranges, Iwa is leaping trout in a silver stream. Iwa is the earth and the stones. For it is here, in this place, in the beauty and the vastness of the mountains, that we are truly awake. Here, we come to be alive. Here, we think most of those close to us, and want them to share in our hearts. Here, in a summer wood." He paused. "Stay a while, Sakura, and I will show you."

Sakura stared, bewildered. For a moment she was tempted to accept the boy's offer. _No, what am I thinking? _Sakura shook her head. "I must go," she said again, as if the words were an incantation.

"Then I shall wait for our next encounter. At the Overlook, perhaps." The boy bowed low, making the ritual greeting of both meeting and parting. "I see you, Haruno Sakura." Then he smiled.

Sakura ran away as fast as she could, leaping over the ravine cliffs, jumping from tree to tree back in the direction she came, toward Iwa. The sun was in her eyes, shining bright in a cloudless sky. The stars were gone. The sun had blotted them all out. _I wonder, _she thought unbidden._ I wonder if he can still see the stars, with those eyes._

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: "Amnesia"**

**Author's Note**: My response to some reviews:

_1. **Wild Spirit: **__"I wonder how Lee is doing after the whole drunken incident. Things probably are going to be rocky between them for a while I guess. Hopefully, things will be resolved between them before any lasting damage is made because I really enjoyed them being friends together. (As a note: I totally agree that Lee is not Sakura's type. Lee is just too... Lee. She was never attracted to him in that kind of way and most likely, never will be... lol. Poor guy.)"_

"Lee is just too... Lee." LOL, yes, exactly! I think Lee was definitely hurt by Sakura's rejection but I'm not sure if he is going to show that outwardly or let it slow him down. That's Lee's core character trait, right?-he never gives up. Never. Ever. That's what makes him the most stubborn, the most comical, and possibly the most heroic person in the whole story. And definitely the funnest to write.

_2. _**_Xorncon - Number 0_**_: "I was half expecting for [Sosano] to let Sakura have the sword, so she'd have like a trademark weapon. But I suppose that chakra-cast kunai is her own trademark isn't it? I also get the feeling that Sosano and Sakura will be fighting each other towards the end of the story, as part of the chunin exams, if not /the/ final fight."_

re: the sword, that's Sosano's personal katana. I don't know why he would give it to someone he's never met before. And as you pointed out Sakura already has her own cool weapon(s).

I can't really speculate on your prediction for how the story will end, but I will say that indeed Sakura and Sosano are going to have a couple awesome fights later on =).

_3. **Mion:**_ _"I like how you compared Sosano to smoke. I've got no idea if that's just me or what the eff but, my god, it was hot. It was intense. It was like shaking because when someone you like kisses you it feels like swallowing thunder, exhaling lightning. And - and how he spoke of Iwa - like he loves it - just like Sakura loves Konoha, I, that's what I like the most, that the reason these kids are fighting like imbeciles it's just because they love their home. […]_

_"Another remark in Sosano. I don't think I've expressed coherently how much I like him. To me, he'll always be colored by your summer wood - all those pretty things he said but it's also about the poem and the sword and the smoking words, the golden eyes, the languid pose. He's a liquid sun, that boy, and the kekkei genkai Goshdammit I'm dirty or something because I keep thinking, would he touch her ribs? I always go quiet when that happens in the movies, the girl and the boy in the dark, and she's not exactly sad and not, by a long run, happy, and he moves and they're breathing the same air and he touches her, softly. It's the kind of feeling I get with Sosano. To me he's melting and it's delightful. I want - I want to see Sakura with him when she's not too surprised to say something rational. (And without the knee-jerk reaction of trying to kill him. That'd be nice, but after all the stuff you read here it's almost treated as a turn on.)_

_"Well trying to kill someone's NOT hot. So, yeah."_

As a writer, sometimes you get one of those reviews where you think, "wow, this person got EXACTLY what I was trying to do." And your review was absolutely like that. TOTAL MIND MELD. Honestly reading your description of Sosano was way hotter than anything I wrote in the chapter, lol. Perfect, perfect analysis. Thanks so much!**  
**


	28. Amnesia

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO or the characters in it.**  
**

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: "Amnesia"**

* * *

The two Sand Siblings were back when Sakura slid open the door of their room in the Zoo. Temari was kneeling on the floor, her huge paper fan fully open in front of her, the three purple stars painted on the fan staring out past her like creepy eyes. To Sakura's surprise, she saw that Temari was praying. The sand-nin's head was bowed, her eyes closed as she muttered softly under her breath. As Sakura walked into the room the head shifted slightly, and one of Temari's eyes opened a slit, a dark iris as hard and sharp as the point of a drawn arrow, before closing again.

Kankuro laughed. "I think she's still pissed off at you." The boy was lounging in his oddly colorful pajamas, a half-disassembled puppet strewn across his lap. "Too bad you didn't come back last night, or she'd have tried to kill you in your sleep. A half-naked kunoichi catfight. Now _that'd_ I have liked to witness. I prayed to God it would happen, I swear, but God only listens to my big sister."

"Maybe tomorrow," Sakura said. She was moving to sit down on her bed, exhausted, when suddenly she noticed that something round and pink was already occupying it. Her mouth fell open. "Tonton?"

The pig perked up at the sound of Sakura's voice, ears twitching, oinking happily. She was sleeping on Sakura's pillow.

"Oh, yeah. One of your leaf-nin brought it over this morning." Kankuro shrugged. "Came with a note from the Queen Bitch. Says you're still the pigwasher, you got to give it a bath every day, etc, etc. Oh, yeah. And the next time you try to chop off Sougon Sosano's head, don't miss."

"What?" Sakura snatched the offered note from the puppet boy's hand. It was in Tsunade-sensei's own handwriting, blasting Sakura's stupidity for wandering enemy territory alone, and summoning Sakura to her quarters at once. The note's wax seal had been pried open by a screwdriver. "You read it," she accused Kankuro.

"'Course I did. Just like I read the letters from your mom."

"_What_?"

"Congratulations, Sakura. Now you've got a stepfather!" A laugh burst from the boy's lips, the sound cruel and barbed like a razor's edge. His painted face twisted in a grotesque leer. "You must be so proud."

"You—how dare—" Sakura started, her face flushed bright red. She took a step forward, intending to rip Kankuro's smirk in two, but Tonton jumped off the bed in her way instead. The pig squealed and scratched at the girl's calves with her stubby little paws.

Kankuro laughed again. "Hey, just tryin' to get to know you. Like you told us to."

_Like I told them to_? With a great effort Sakura brought her anger under control. Kankuro's words whirled in her mind. Was that what this was all about, their fight yesterday? Was this the sand-nins' way of getting back? They were trying to shame her, she realized. They were trying to put her in her place. Like a pack of wolves fighting over who was going to be alpha dog. On the floor Temari had opened another eye slit and was staring at her with it.

"Cute," Sakura said. She forced a smile on her face. "Cute, but stupid."

"Stupid?"

"Yeah. I think maybe you didn't understand what I said, Kankuro. I mean, going through my letters? What're you gonna do next, go through my panties? I don't want to know you _that way_." Kankuro arched an eyebrow, but before he could reply Sakura turned around and walked out the room. She tried to keep herself from slammed the door shut, but failed. Tonton oinked behind her.

When the girl showed up at the Hokage's quarters half an hour later she was still fuming. She barely even noticed the looks the Iwa villagers threw at her as she hurried down the tangled grids of streets, her Konoha forehead protector making her stick out like a rotten tooth. She was imagining Kankuro's face instead, and Temari's, and how they would look after she smashed them in with a crowbar. Ogata Shingo made a number of starring appearances, as well, though in her mind he was already a cross between a snake and a goat, so the crowbar didn't make much difference. And then her mother, her turncoat mother, her glasses smashed, her head split open and blood and brain running out to stain her drab gray dress.

The thought drew Sakura up short. _No, why am I thinking that? _She hadn't slept in two days, not since before Deathtrap Mountain._ I'm not in my right mind._

That did not lessen her anger, though, and it did not help when the first thing the Hokage said to her after being shown into her private courtyard by the ANBU guards was, "What are you doing, girl? Are you suffering from PMS? I hope you are, it must be a hormonal mood swing. Or else you're just insufferably stupid."

"No, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura said, much more calmly than she felt. "I'm on the pill. You know that." Truth be told, she hadn't menstruated for months, not since the Embassy had left Konoha. It was a common experience for kunoichi, especially during the stress of a mission, and for those women who wanted to ensure it, the pill even had the potential to suppress ovulation outright. PMS and related menstrual disorders were a legitimate problem of the Hokage's time, before the pill, but nowadays they were only myths, stale clichés to be trotted out by old grumpy men. _And my sensei, when she wants to_ _be a bitch._

"Then what is it?" the Hokage asked. "Is there some good reason you decided to run away into the Sagewood by yourself? Don't you know the Tsuchikage has a mark on your head? Don't you know the Sougon boy could have killed you?"

She would have said more, but then a cuckoo landed on the cherry tree in the center of the courtyard, cawing plaintively. Both of them turned to look at it. Strange, for a cuckoo to come all the way down from the mountains, to land in a human village. But the Hokage seemed to know the bird, somehow, and when she held out her arm the small, gray bird fluttered its wings and hopped over to it. Its somber song filled the garden. "Yes, I remember," the woman whispered, and then at once the bird took flight, darting into the sky. When the Hokage turned to Sakura again her face was as withered as the bare branches of the cherry tree, dark and drained. The garden was silent.

_What was that?_ she wanted to ask, but she knew the Hokage would not answer. Instead Sakura bent her head, closing her eyes. The cuckoo's call echoed in her memory, too—she had heard it last night, the same one, in the forest. A summer wood, Sosano had called it. She could hear him as well, see him and smell him, his proud, smoky laugh, his soft breath that tasted of dawn grass, his eyes that burned like the sun. _If I meant to kill you, you would already be dead_, he said, and Sakura knew it was true. She was the leader of the UC in the chuunin exam, but she had stood no more chance against him than she had against Sasuke, that night a lifetime ago, on the bridge over the frozen river. And then all her anger was gone, too, her fury, her bitterness, because she was still alive, she was still here, and there was still a mission, there was so much left to do.

"I'm sorry," she said, opening her eyes. "You're right, it was stupid. I—I wanted to get away. The Sand Siblings, my mother, the Zoo, the chuunin exam. Everything. It was—it was too much. I was stupid."

"Yes." The Hokage's voice was soft. "And it has only been one day. I warned you, Sakura. This is a place unlike any other on earth. Any sign of weakness and it will eat you up like a worm."

"No." Sakura shook her head. "No, it won't happen again. I can handle it."

"As you handled Sougon Sosano?"

She knew what the Hokage was driving at. Sosano was a genin, too, and the Tsuchikage's son, thus the de facto leader of the Confederacy bloc in the chuunin exam. Her counterpart, on the other side. "He's stronger than me," she admitted.

"He is the strongest genin in the chuunin exam, most likely in the whole world. Stronger than Gaara was. S-rank. You're a high B-rank, at best. Say the two of you meet in the exam. What do you do?"

Sakura thought about it. "Hide."

"Yes, that seems smarter than standing around reciting poetry. But remember he can see heat, he can see your body radiation. Then what?"

"Then I'll run, and if I can't run, I'll make bunshin to confuse him. How do you know what I was saying to Sosano in the forest, anyway? Did you plant a bug in my clothes or something?"

"If I did, girl, I certainly wouldn't tell you. Your bunshin are useless. A stalling tactic, and not a very effectual one at that. How do you fight him?"

"Well, with the Enshogan he can see everything coming, and he's so fast. A direct attack would be suicidal. Maybe I'd try to set up a trap beforehand, like a shuriken dummy or a barrier circle. Then I'd distract him with genjutsu. Then open the chakra gates and squeeze him with chakra fields from range."

The Hokage nodded. "Good. How many gates can you open?"

"Three. Maybe four."

"If you open four now you'll be paralyzed for the rest of your life. The Gates are kinjutsu for a reason. Every time you use them your body is torn apart from the inside. Every single tissue, every single cell. The damage never fully heals, and each time it gets worse. You feel the pain already, don't you?"

"No," Sakura lied. There was a dull constant ache over her body everywhere, and inside the worst. It wasn't so bad, like soreness after a hard workout, except she knew it would never, ever, go away. Medical textbooks were full of case studies of ninja who had opened the Gates one too many times and then never walked again.

"Fool. Chakra Gates make you feel a god, for a time, but if you open them in every fight you'll soon be dead. They're a crutch. You should never be in a position where you have to use them. Fight the Sougon boy without Gates."

"The same thing then, just not as good. Taijutsu and ninjutsu won't work. Genjutsu is the only way. I'm a genjutsu type, and he's not."

"Are you? Show me." The Hokage flashed a seal with one hand, almost too fast to see, and a mud bunshin rose from the earth in front of Sakura. To her surprise the bunshin formed not into an image of the Hokage, but of a tall, lean boy in gray robes. Sosano. The boy slid a shining steel sword out of the scabbard at his waist and offered it to Sakura, hilt up. "Go on," the boy said in a soft smoky voice. "Chop my head off."

"You henged your own bunshin," Sakura said to the Hokage. "How'd you do that?"

The woman allowed herself a slight smile. "You'll learn in time, girl. Go on, use the katana. Fight him."

Sakura took the sword and swung at the bunshin's neck. Sosano ducked. "Too slow," the Hokage said, and Sosano laughed, haughty and arrogant. The girl narrowed her eyes. She swung again, but this time she added a genjutsu, whispered under her breath. _Binding_. The wave of disruptive chakra hit the bunshin just as her sword reached the apogee of its swing. Sakura saw, no, felt her chakra blast interrupt the electrical impulses between the neurons in the bunshin's muscular nervous system. His muscles froze for the slightest fraction of an instant. But then an internal chakra wave, a counter chakra field, flooded out from the bunshin's chakra circulatory vessels and wiped out the outside interference. Sosano ducked the sword swing as easily as before. Sosano laughed again.

"Good," said the Hokage. "You completed Binding. Show me the others."

"Blackout," Sakura said. The first and easiest genjutsu Tsunade-sensei had taught her, a burst of chakra thrown at the sensory nerves feeding into the brain, causing a sudden loss of vision, hearing, taste, and smell. "Mirage." Another sensory genjutsu, more subtle, inserting a false afterimage in the optical nerve so that it looked like an object in motion was still where it had been a few seconds ago. "Sleep." A targeted attack on the neural trigger in the brain that automatically causes unconsciousness if it senses a lack of oxygen, knocking the victim out if he couldn't counter in time. All C-rank genjutsu, all easily countered by the Sosano bunshin. He ducked every sword swing.

"Good," said the Hokage. "Your genjutsu are much stronger."

Genjutsu scaled with chakra control. Sakura had a vivid demonstration of that at the beginning of her training, when the Hokage was teaching her Blackout. Sakura had tried to use it on her sensei, only to be countered in midair, before the chakra burst had even crossed halfway between them. Then the Hokage had used the same genjutsu on her. The Blackout came over the girl like a tidal wave, a tsunami, the chakra field as strong and solid as steel bars, and no matter how Sakura tried, what kind of internal field she tried to generate, she could not break it. She had stumbled across the ground for what seemed like hours, blind and deaf, before Tsunade-sensei released the genjutsu. _Let that be your second lesson, girl_, the Hokage had said. _To ninja like us, chakra is everything._

Tsunade-sensei could not do the same thing to her now. In the two months on the Embassy, Sakura's chakra control had improved a dozen times over. "Yeah. And I can chain genjutsu together now," Sakura said. "Watch."

With one hand she swung the katana hard in an overhead arc. But as she did so she concentrated, and from the tenketsu in her other hand released a rapid series of chakra bursts, five in a second, five Blackouts one after the other. They were all countered, as she knew they would be, but the extra genjutsu distracted the bunshin, and when Sosano leaped back to dodge, he reacted noticeably slower. Sakura attacked the boy again, side slashing, and this time between her Blackout spam she added Sleep, forcing him to defend against two separate genjutsu at once. The boy moved even slower. She rushed at him with full force, slashing, thrusting, a whirl of steel, a storm of illusion attacks, forcing the bunshin across the courtyard. A dozen times Sakura thought she had got him, but somehow the bunshin always slipped past the blade. Sweat ran down her face and her arms from the effort of keeping it all up.

_Just a little more, _she thought,_ I just need to slow him a little more_. She began to gather chakra in her feet, pooling it to the bursting point. As the boy dodged left she leaped again, her feet in the air aimed at the boy's head. The Binding attack exploded from the foot tenketsu as from a wound crossbow. At the same instant Sakura released Blackout and Sleep from her hand. Three genjutsu hit the bunshin at once, and for a long second he was overwhelmed, paralyzed. _Yes!_ She slashed her sword, meaning to chop off Sosano's head, but spun backward instead, losing her balance. Too late she realized she had put all her concentration into the genjutsu attack and forgot to follow through the physical one. With an oof the girl crashed in a heap to the ground.

"Very good, Sakura," said the Hokage. "But not good enough. Your genjutsu slowed down your taijutsu too much, and vice versa. You should not attempt to combine them just yet. And, I pray ask you, don't use a katana either. Your technique is uglier than a leper's face." She waved her hand, and both the bunshin and Sakura's sword dissolved into mud. "If you wish to fight Sosano, you must do it on your terms, not his."

Sakura understood. "You're going to teach me a new genjutsu, aren't you, Tsunade-sensei?" she asked, stumbling to her feet. Hopefully she added, "Maybe a space-time one?" The Hokage was legendary for her space-time genjutsu; it was said she could make a man live an entire day in a single second.

The woman laughed, soft as chimes. "When you learn those you'll be as strong as I am. No, this genjutsu is only A-rank. Amnesia."

Sakura had never heard of it before. "Amnesia?"

The Hokage waved her hand.

She felt the genjutsu coming, felt the foreign chakra field enter her body, her brain. At once she countered with an internal chakra field, pushing her own chakra through the tenketsu in her head. The two fields collided; the Hokage's field was stronger, but not by much, and the source was so much further away that Sakura could reinforce her field more quickly. She concentrated, and with a well-timed surge pushed back the invading genjutsu. Suddenly the genjutsu returned, no longer a spherical field but a spear of chakra, sharp and propelled with extraordinary force. It sliced through Sakura's defenses like a knife through flesh, on a clear course for the center of Sakura's brain. The hippocampus. Sakura couldn't stop it from hitting, but that was not fatal, it was hard to prevent a strong genjutsu from connecting for at least a couple of instants. She would just have to break it after, by surging another wave of internal chakra. She could break it—break—

_What?_ She had been thinking something, but now she couldn't remember it. The girl blinked. What had happened? Where was she? She looked around, totally confused. She was in a garden. A woman was standing in front of her. Who was the woman? _Who am I?_ The girl blinked…

"This," said the woman," is Amnesia."

And then suddenly it was over, like a switch had been turned off. The memories rushed back into Sakura's mind. She shook her head, trying to clear away the brief but total confusion. What kind of jutsu was that? _I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember anything… _"How did you do that?" she managed to ask.

"How do you think, girl? Figure it out."

Sakura held a hand to her head, frowning. "Well… the hippocampus controls memory. Memory retrieval and formation. I still remember what happened during the genjutsu, so you didn't change my memory, you must have just blocked me from accessing it. There are specific neural pathways by which the frontal lobe retrieves memories from the hippocampus. You disrupted the pathway with a chakra field. Amnesia. I couldn't break it, because I didn't remember that I was in a genjutsu. I didn't even know my name."

"Yes. Like any genjutsu, the theory behind Amnesia is very simple. The brain and nervous system has any number of weak points that can be attacked. Memory is one, sense perception another, and consciousness yet another. But unlike with ninjutsu or taijutsu, the higher-ranking the genjutsu, the subtler the weak point is. Amnesia is, in its objective effects, a weaker jutsu than Sleep. Why is that?"

"Because it's all in the execution," the girl said. "There are two factors that determine the rank of a genjutsu. One, the place it targets. Two, the kind of field manipulation applied. The bigger or deeper the target, the more complex the field, the harder the genjutsu is to counter. And all of it comes down to chakra control." She frowned. "The hippocampus is the heart of the brain. The chakra vessels and neural nets there are so dense, it's super hard to affect it with an outside chakra field. I don't think I could do it."

"No? Think, girl. How do you multiply the density of a chakra field?"

"A couple of ways. Rotate it in a spiral, like in a chakra string. Or brute force the density by increasing the amount of chakra ejected. Or… you could run a current, you could loop the chakra field back on itself." Sakura realized she had hit on the key point. "Chakra flow! That's perfect for a genjutsu, because you're trying to sustain a field over distance, against resistance. Chakra flow increases density, pressure, and speed."

"Exactly. Amnesia is a chakra-flow genjutsu. It exploits the memory circuit in the hippocampus itself, by trapping the electrical signals sent by the hippocampus in a loop within the circuit, so that the signals never exit the hippocampus. Now, girl, that's the theory. Show me your chakra flow."

"Um, well…" Sakura had never actually tried to chakra flow before. _But if I can already open the Chakra Gates, how hard could it be_? In principle it should be much easier; all she had to do was create a chakra projection field from her tenketsu with the proper shape manipulation. She whipped out a chakra-cast kunai from her belt and concentrated, meaning to flow the chakra out of her hand, into the kunai, and then back out through her hand again. On the first try she managed to get a weak current loop going, though there was an incredible amount of leakage, and it collapsed in a few seconds.

"It's too wide," said the Hokage. "Don't make the current wide, you need to increase the pressure and speed, the more the better."

Sakura nodded. Soon a healthy chakra flow was streaming along the edge of the kunai, the blue-white current bright as a flame, mingling with the faint mirrored glow of the chakra-cast kunai. Once she knew what to do, the shape manipulation was even easier than she had thought.

"Don't think it's that simple," the Hokage said. "You're using a chakra blade, and you're looping it through your hand. Try looping the current within metal."

That was harder. The shuriken she used was much more resistant to the chakra flow, plus every time she tried to make a self-sustaining current loop around the shuriken edge it dissipated after a few revolutions. _I need to make it more dense_, she realized. She pumped in more and more chakra while still keeping the same current width. Now the chakra flow was a snake eating its own tail, feeding on itself. Tons of chakra was still escaping the loop, but there was so much of it that the current could last a good couple seconds by itself, without additional reinforcement. If she threw the shuriken at something now it would give a nice, sharp shock upon contact.

"And I can add nature manipulation, right?" she said. Sakura knew that adding doton chakra to the chakra flow, for example, would cause the current to impart extra force and mass. A thrown earth chakra-flow weapon would hit as if it were much heavier than it was. She wanted to try it but making a hole in the Hokage's private garden was probably a bad idea. Then a question occurred to her. "What if I flowed a doton current through my own body? That's the principle behind chakra-enhanced strength, isn't it?"

The Hokage nodded. "Yes. But I advise you not to attempt it, not if you like living. Your body is not a metal shuriken. At your level of chakra mastery an incorrect doton current would rip your heart in two."

Sakura shrugged, running a hand through her pink bangs. _But I bet I could blow a really big hole somewhere if I wanted to_. "Can I try the genjutsu now?"

"Yes. Try it on me."

"On you, Tsunade-sensei?"

"I won't resist. Just focus on making the chakra-flow loop in the memory circuit." The Hokage closed her eyes and stood as still as a statue.

"Well, okay." Sakura brought her mind back to her medic-nin textbooks, trying to visualize the structure of the hippocampus, the varying tissues and neural clusters that made up a person's memory. There. She formed a chakra flow current between her hands, then projected it outward, toward the Hokage's head. Unfortunately her sensei's head was not a textbook, and Sakura couldn't directly see into it. She probed, moving the current this way and that, edging it into the brain, ever deeper. The Hokage was motionless. There, the memory circuit, Sakura felt it! Shadow afterimages of another person's memory rushed back through the chakra flow. But just as she reached it the current dissipated, overwhelmed by the much stronger internal chakra field with which it had made contact.

Sakura bit her lip. That was bad. Amnesia worked off the same basic principles of Binding, she knew, only with the addition of chakra flow. Just like Binding disrupted the electrochemical signals between the muscular nerves, she had to do the same in the hippocampus. But the brain was so much denser, the signals so much more intense. How to strengthen the chakra flow? Then she remembered how the Hokage had attacked her with the genjutsu before. A spear of chakra. Of course, that was it. Once she had already broken into the memory pathway, all the electrical impulses within it would be redirected via her chakra flow into an internal loop—co-opting the internal chakra field, piggybacking off it like a virus on a cell membrane. It was getting in that was the hard part. She needed to pierce the hippocampus with sufficient force.

Concentrating, she sharpened her chakra-flow projection field, bringing her hands together. A visible lance of current formed, crackling with hot blue-white energy. It almost looked like a chakra scalpel, and the comparison made Sakura realize what allowed a scalpel to cut into hard tissue was the extreme density of it. So she pumped even more chakra into the current, then flung it at the Hokage's head. The first attempt failed, as did the second, the third, the tenth. On the eleventh she successfully speared the memory circuit, but screwed up the follow-up chakra loop. And so on, the rest of the morning, until at last she had it, she poured her chakra into the Hokage's memory pathway and it held, she had put her sensei into Amnesia.

"Yes!" Sakura was elated. An A-rank genjutsu, she had done it! She sat down in the garden grass. Suddenly she was exhausted, spent from the training, the fight with the Sosano bunshin, and from two days of sleepless stress.

The Hokage opened her eyes, dark and enigmatic. "That was fast, girl. Very fast. I'm impressed."

Sakura thought her mouth was going to fall off. "You… you broke the Amnesia!"

"And?"

"But—that shouldn't be possible…" Sakura trailed off. How could the Hokage break a genjutsu if she didn't remember she was in one? Did she do the Amnesia wrong? Was her sensei somehow immune, did she have some sort of special implant in her head?

The Hokage laughed. "Come, girl. I thought you were supposed to be smart."

She frowned, shaking her head. "Amnesia isn't like a sensory genjutsu. If you're trapped you can't break it. It's impossible. Someone else has to break it for you. I didn't break it, and I would have felt it if someone else did, because of the chakra signature. So _you_ broke it. But that can't be. Unless…" Suddenly, as if in a revelation from the Sage himself, all the pieces fell into place. "Unless that's… that's not your real body! That's got to be it! You're a bunshin."

"Of course."

It all made sense now. Sakura talked excitedly. "And that's how you avoided the assassination attempt in Suna. Because you were always a bunshin. I mean, duh, it's obvious! The Sougon clan is out to get you. So obviously your real body would be in hiding. You've got to protect yourself. Even when I talked to you, right? Even in Konoha, and on Deathtrap Mountain?"

"In the Konoha hospital it was my real body. Every time you saw me after that, yes, it was a bunshin. Note that I control my bunshin directly. That's how I broke the Amnesia."

"But I bet your real body is close by. You must be, to control them. It's somewhere in Iwa. Are you henged as someone else on the Embassy?"

The Hokage gave a faint smile. "Don't pry, girl. Some secrets are best left unsaid."

Just then one of the ANBU entered the courtyard, kneeling on one knee. "Hokage-sama, Examiner Nara is here."

"Show him in."

The ANBU left and returned with Shikamaru. The leaf-nin chuunin bowed, then straightened, a strangely tense expression on his face. He smiled at Sakura, but it did not quite go to his eyes, and he kept on putting his hands into and then out of his pockets. Jumpy, Sakura thought. But why?

"Shikamaru," the Hokage said. "Do you have the information I want?"

"No, Hokage-sama. I can't. Director Doi put a seal on all the examiners, preventing us from revealing any exam secrets." He stuck out his tongue to reveal the swirling blue-black seal cut into the center of it. "You know that."

"Your so-called seal has not stopped every other village from stealing everything they want. Iwa above all. This is war, boy. A cold war, perhaps, but a war it is. Whose side are you on?"

"Konoha, of course. Hokage-sama."

"Then return to me tomorrow night, during dinner at the Overlook. I'll have a task for you. A very important task."

Shikamaru swallowed, a pale lump crawling down his windpipe, and Sakura almost did as well. Shaking down an examiner for information was one thing, giving him an 'important task' on the eve of the First Trial was another. It could only mean the Hokage intended one thing: sabotage. Was this how the chuunin exam was going to play out? Were all the examiners already compromised, the integrity of the exam destroyed?

_A shadow war_, the Hokage had called it. _And there shall be one central nexus around which the shadow war will turn. The chuunin exam…_ it was the key to the whole political puzzle in Iwa, and thus to the fate of the ninja world. Sakura felt tired, more tired than she had ever had before. Her mind swam, and then she saw before her again a boy with burning eyes, a boy with a voice soft as smoke, showing her the dawn in a summer wood. "The night is over," he had said. "But we are both still awake." Did it really happen? It almost seemed a dream, the magical twilight fantasy of a little girl. How she longed to go back to sleep, to go back to that place, but she could not.

"If the Director finds out—" Shikamaru started.

"Then you'll be dead, or worse. Most likely worse. Don't let him find out."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Shikamaru kneeled again. He paused. Then he said, "There's another thing. Team Asuma isn't going to take the exam, Asuma-sensei refused to sponsor them. Usually that would the end of it, but Ino wouldn't accept the decision. She wants to make a special appeal to you, as the leader of the Embassy, to override Asuma-sensei."

"I see." There was a slight tightening of the lines around the Hokage's mouth, as if she meant to either smile or frown, but could not decide which. "Yamanaka has the right to do so, if she wishes. Sakura, I delegate this task to you. You will decide whether Team Asuma is prepared to enter the chuunin exam."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You're my apprentice. Do you know that word? It means when I eat, you take the shit. You wash my pig. You manage your genin friends. Go on now, I have more pressing things to attend to." She waved her hand.

ANBU escorted Sakura and Shikamaru out of the compound unceremoniously. As soon as they were out on the street Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief; his posture seemed to go out with his air, his back deflating into an almost comical slouch. "Wow," he said, shaking his head and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Your sensei is really something."

"She's the Queen Bitch," said Sakura, who thought she had more than the right to call her that, and who also did not want to talk about her sensei. "Shika, is it true, what she said about the chuunin exam? Are you guys already compromised?"

"I'm not gonna do anything stupid, if that's what you mean," he said pointedly. "And as long as Doi-sama is in charge, no one else is going to do anything stupid either. Don't worry about me. I've been here two months, and I've picked up a thing or two. It's those other two I'm losing sleep over."

"Was it that bad?"

Shikamaru yawned. "Worse. We fought all night, the eight of us. Yep eight. Me, my dad, Ino, Ino's dad, Chouji, Chouji's dad, Anake, and Asuma-sensei. How goddamnfucking troublesome!"

As they walked back to the Zoo Shikamaru filled her in on the details. Ino, Anake and Inoichi wanted to take the exam, Shikamaru was undecided, Shikaku didn't seem to care either way, Chouji and Chouza were against it, and Asuma was _very_ against it. There had been a lot of yelling, eloquent cursing, and some furniture would need to be replaced. "You know those desert island questions, like if you were stranded on a desert island what'd you choose to take with you?" Shikamaru finished. "Well, I'd take the seven of them, and then kill myself, so the rest of the planet can live in peace."

Sakura could hear them still going at it through the walls of Shikamaru's flat. Since Team Asuma had not entered the exam and so had no access to their own room, they had crowded into their former teammate's quarters instead.

"We're not going to come all this way and quit now!" Ino's voice shouted.

"That's not your decision to make!" Asuma's booming roar gave back. "We're going back to Konoha! That's an order, understand? An order!"

"Asuma-sensei, I _hate_ you!" Ino shrieked.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, a wry grin plastered on his face. "See what I mean? Ah, it can't be helped."

He slid open the door. The seven ninja inside stared at them; Sakura thought they looked a bit like rabid animals, the way their eyes bulged, and their lips curled back to show teeth. It had obviously been a rough night. For some reason Sakura wanted to yawn, but she suppressed the urge.

"Sakura!" Ino cried out when she saw her. "Can you believe it? Asuma-sensei's wimping out on us!" She shot a dagger look at the fat boy beside her. "And Chouji."

"I know," Sakura said. Shikamaru quickly explained what the Hokage had said, which sent the room into another uproar.

"Hokage-sama sent a genin to decide the fate of my daughter?" Inoichi demanded. "This is a slap in the face to the Yamanaka clan!"

Nara Shikaku chuckled. The leaf-nin jounin was leaning with his arms folded against a wall, outwardly calm, though Sakura could see a vein twitching in his neck. "The woman's sending us a sign, Inoichi. Asuma's decision should have been final and you know it. If you're going to go over his head then accept the consequences."

"Why are you here, Shikaku?" Inoichi asked. "Your kid isn't the one on the line, so this is none of your business!"

"True. I might add it's none of your business, either."

"What?" Inoichi shouted.

"Guys, come on!" Chouza said, running a hand through his long tangled bush of brown hair. "Let's not fight. Please?"

From his seat at the room's far end Asuma stabbed a finger at Inoichi. Sakura had never him so angry before; he was red-faced, and there was a pile of ash on the table from all the cigarettes he had smoked. "I'll say this for the last time, Commander. Ino and Chouji are not ready to take the chuunin exam. Period."

"What the hell are you talking about, man? They took the last one!"

"With Shikamaru. They were a team together, a good one. No disrespect to Shimura Anake, but he's a bad fit with the other two kiddos."

Anake smirked. "No disrespect taken. I freely admit it. The bimbo and the fatass are like two deadweights on my neck."

"Shut up!" Ino yelled. "You're so _amazingly_ negative, you know that?"

"I agree with Captain Asuma," Chouza said, and Chouji nodded along with his father. "The Iwa chuunin exam is too elite. There's no harm in waiting for the next one."

"Chouza, man, what's happened to you?" Inoichi asked. "Remember when we took our first exam together? Yanagi-sensei didn't want us to go, but we made him? And we passed. How can you not have faith in your own son? He's a good shinobi."

"That's so," Chouza allowed.

Asuma stood up suddenly, so hard the table flipped over. "If Chouji enters this exam he's gonna get killed!"

There was a very uncomfortable silence. Chouji's face grew so pale he looked like a ghost. Then Inoichi narrowed his eyes and said, "You're delusional, Asuma. This is a B-rank team. All three are fine shinobi. 88% of the teams in the exam are C-rank or lower. Yes, Examiner Nara?" Shikamaru nodded. "88%! Something must be wrong with your head. Your traitor cousin Iniden must have done more damage than we realized!"

Asuma's face flushed bright red. "What? You—"

"Enough," Sakura said.

They all turned to look at her. She resisted the impulse to swallow. "Enough. The Hokage sent me to make a judgment. It's time. Okay?" Her gaze passed over the three genin of Team Asuma, one by one. "Do you want to be in the exam, or not? It's your choice." _It's the most important decision of your life_. "No one can make you."

"Yes!" Ino said.

"Yes," Anake said.

Chouji looked down. "I…" The rotund fat boy's voice was almost a whisper. "I… yes. _Yes_. I'm… I'm a ninja. I'm not gonna run back home. I'm not afraid."

Three yeses. Sakura hesitated, even though she had already made her decision, or perhaps she only thought that she had. Chouji was rubbing his tummy nervously, and then Sakura was back in the past, in her memories, that time so very long ago, at the gates of Konoha on a fine spring morning, when the Embassy had not yet left to walk the world. The fat boy had rubbed his stomach and he had cried out, "This is gonna be a really, really long summer!" And then the Hokage had sidled behind them on her white horse and said, "Of that, young Akimichi, you could not be more right." The Hokage, she was so strong, she was so cold. _Strength is the only thing that matters, don't you ever believe anything different._ Isn't that what she would say, isn't that what she would do? This is a war, she would say, a shadow war. Whose side are you on? Don't hesitate. Any sign of weakness and this place will eat you up like a worm. 50% of all chuunin exam entrants were going to die, the Director Doi had warned them. Half and half, a coin toss. But 88% of the teams were C-rank or lower. Good gambling odds, unless you were gambling your life, because the odds didn't matter, the odds became meaningless when everything was at stake. But shinobi did not gamble. Shinobi were tools, shinobi were weapons. They were not afraid. Strong, they were strong enough, weren't they? Ino was strong, Ino's blue eyes like the sea, Ino in a desert canyon, the wind whipping her long golden ponytail, Ino laughing as she held gleaming daggers between her fingertips. "So tell me, you cactus," she had asked. "What does it feel like to kill a man?" _It feels like nothing_, Sakura thought. Then she knew what she had to do.

"Okay," the girl said. "I'll tell Tsunade-sensei. You will enter the chuunin exam."

"Yes!" Ino cried out. She ran over the Sakura and gave her best friend a crushing hug. "I knew you'd wouldn't let me down, you big forehead cactus! Yes! Time to kick ass!"

Sakura returned the hug, but her eyes were drawn to Asuma, still standing at the far end of the room, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. As she watched he took a lighter out of his pocket and lit it. A flicker of smoke leaked out from the ashen tip.

"You're wrong, Sakura," he said. "You think you're doing what Tsunade wants, but you're not. This one's not on her. It's not on anyone else. It's on you."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: "The Overlook"**

**Author's Note**: My response to Wild Spirit's review:

_**Wild Spirit:** "I have to admit, I keep getting this ominous feeling that Ino, Chouji, and Anake are going to die later on. I'm worried about it but even more than that, I'm at the edge of my seat waiting in anticipation to what you're planning on dishing out because I know it's going to be damn good."_

As for the story going forward, I think it's safe to say that nobody is safe (well, except for Sakura, because she's the only narrator, and if I kill her there's no story). But nobody else, from Tsunade down to Tonton the pig. It's interesting that you have an "ominous feeling" about Ino, Chouji, and Anake in particular. Is that because you think the last chapter foreshadows their deaths in the chuunin exam? Well, not exactly... but I shouldn't say any more, you've got to wait for the next couple chapters!


	29. The Overlook Part 1 of 3

**Author's Note: **This is supposed to be one chapter, but I'm not done with the rest yet, and I promised you guys an update. So here it is. The rest of "The Overlook" will follow in the next couple weeks.

For this part specifically, I'm also looking for feedback on the new characters (Kikuko, Yukari, and Shirasu). If you could just tell me whether you like them or not, that would be great.

Thanks so much!

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: "The Overlook" [Part 1 of 3]**

* * *

Sougon Castle squatted atop the Overlook like the bleached skull of a dead thing, white and pale and monstrous. Sakura could not decide which sort of thing it was, until she had walked close enough to the gated portcullis that its points showed, long sharp spears of steel that glittered in the sunset. _A bear_, she thought then, _it looks like a bear_, _and its jaws are large enough to swallow me whole_. Without delay Tsunade-sensei led the leaf-nin party into the bowels of the castle.

The Tsuchikage had invited them to dinner.

Inside the castle all was silence. "Well, that's a welcome sound," Honjo Micho said wryly. "I half-thought my old eardrums were going to burst on the way here."

Beside her, Anake sighed exaggeratedly. "Be careful what you wish for, Micho-sama. My grandfather says that it's always quietest just before your death."

Their ride to Sougon Castle from Tsukai Gardens had been shadowed every step of them way by angry villagers. The Hokage's honor guard had stopped the heavy objects thrown at them, but they could not stop the shouts. "Death to the Betrayer! Death to the Whore of Leaves! Death to Konoha! Death to Konoha!" Sakura felt like she was part of an ancient execution, when they'd parade a criminal up and down the streets before chopping off his head.

The Overlook was the execution ground. It had loomed up before them, larger and larger, a white mountain at the tip of the village. The base was stained by rain and beaten by wind, but its peak was carved into great pyramidal structures, towers and keeps and recessed halls. Sougon Castle was an entire castle built inside a single giant rock, hollowed out of the top levels of the Overlook. And the lower levels as well, if the tales were true. It was said a man could walk a year beneath those walls and never be able to find his way out.

After passing through the castle gates, Sakura could believe it. _This is an old place_. She could feel it in the weight of the stone, in the shafts of sunlight that pierced through long slanted windows to light the interior. _And lonely_. Everything seemed slightly too big, too tall and wide, as if it not built for mortal beings. The walls were cold and almost entirely devoid of decoration. The only one she could see was a suit of samurai armor, right by the entrance. The red lacquered dreamsteel was of extraordinary craftsmanship, at least as old as the castle itself. Blackness stared out from the eyeholes of the mask; suddenly she saw burning flames.

The Hokage rounded on her. "I will do the talking. You are not to speak unless spoken to. Have you studied the Yamanaka report?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes."

"Then you know who you must watch for. Observe the genin, dissect them. You will be fighting each other before the night is out."

Officially, the Overlook dinner was a welcome party to kick off the chuunin exam. Unofficially it was a way for all the villages to gauge each other's strength, and to set the stage for the political power plays of the next three months. Three representatives from each village had been invited; each representative was also allowed to "sponsor" one genin entrant. The Hokage had sponsored her, and Honjo Micho and Hyuuga Hiashi, the other two representatives, had chosen Neji and Anake. All the strongest genin would certainly be making an appearance.

And they were very strong. Chief Inoichi had prepared a secret report on all 1,149 genin entrants, ranking them by strength, profile, and as many of their jutsu as he could find. The report was undoubtedly illegal, and undoubtedly everyone else was doing the same. Sakura had read it in her spare time when she wasn't training or sleeping.

It did not help her sleep. There was a huge pool of entrants—double the usual—and an absolutely absurd number of them were A-rank. A-rank ninja were supposed to be _jounin_, the ninja elite… not genin. In the last chuunin exam in Konoha, only Gaara would have qualified as A-rank, Sasuke and Neji as a high B-rank, and Lee and Temari as mid B-rank.

This time there were _eight_ A-rank genin, and twenty seven B-rank genin… and those were just the ranked ones. 15% of the entrants had been unranked because Inoichi had no information on them. Another A-rank ninja could very well pop out from that pile.

_Or S-rank_. The designation "S-rank" was reserved for the world's most dangerous ninja, shinobi on the level of the Fifth Hokage herself. Somehow the genin Sougon Sosano had received it. _Of course he did._ No one in the exam could take him one-on-one; the only way to defeat him would be through teamwork.

Teamwork. Sakura had always thought she was good at teamwork, but now she knew that it was only the teams she had been on, with Sasuke and Naruto and then with Ino and Chouji. The Sand Siblings were another matter. They had even refused to train with her until Baki ordered it. "In the name of the Kazekage," he had intoned.

The training had not gone well. From an objective perspective, they should have been a very strong team. But somehow the whole was less than the parts. Somehow the timing was just a little off, the warning just a little late. The Sand Siblings blamed her, and she blamed them.

That first night she found herself burning with resentment, and even Tonton the pig annoyed her, with her stinky fur, her squeals and annoying pawing. She had to take a pill to sleep, and the next day it seemed she had not slept at all, for all the good it had done her. She was supposed to be training Amnesia and chakra flow, and could not do either. Frustration begat frustration, and the petty teasing of the Sand Siblings.

The worst thing was when Neji and Tenten showed up. Neji had turned his cold white eyes on Sakura. "You shouldn't have said those things to Lee."

"Do you know what Lee's been doing, ever since you slapped him?" Tenten followed in a shrill voice. "We came back and found him crying in the room. He wouldn't even tell us what happened for a whole day. He was drunk. You know how Lee gets when he gets drunk, damnit. Why'd you do that?"

Sakura felt bad, but Tenten's tone raised her hackles. _Didn't I just save your life?_ And she was aware of the eyes of the sand-nins on her. "It was for his own good. He's delusional, and you're his enablers." As if to emphasize the point she fished out Lee's two chakra-cast kunai and handed them to Neji. "Look, give these back. I don't want them."

Neji stared at her as if she was a particularly distasteful species of vermin. "You're so cold, Sakura. Lee doesn't care about daggers. All he cares about is you. Even when everyone else abandoned you, he was always there. And you used him, and as soon as you were back in the Fifth's good graces you turned around and dumped him like a piece of trash."

The words cut Sakura to the quick. "You mistake me."

But Kankuro had only laughed. "Better tell your rock-headed friend the truth, Hyuuga. Meet the new Sakura. Meet the pink-haired bitch."

_I'm not a bitch,_ Sakura told herself. _Am I?_

Now Sakura followed Neji and his uncle as they climbed the winding steps of Sougon Castle. Neji did not speak to her, and she did not look at him. Instead she glued her eyes to the bare stone walls. Sounds were coming from ahead; she could just make out the music of table harps, and the buzz of laughing voices. Suddenly the walls expanded, opening out into a huge vaulted cavern.

They had reached the highest level of Sougon Castle, the hollowed out peak of the Overlook. It was large enough to swallow the entire Hokage Residence; but portioned by traditional-style paper walls into smaller rooms, it had a feel of warm intimacy. At least a hundred guests were mingling, talking. Temari and Kankuro were in one corner, along with the Suna genin Hattori Bakan; Shikamaru, Genma, and the Fire Monk Wakanura Chiriku were in another. By a long fluted window that looked out on the Dreamstone River, she saw Team Tosuken. Tenshe was scratching his head, Erima was sharpening her black knife with a whetstone, and Aumono was dangling a serving girl on his lap. Sakura did not see Sosano.

"Tsunade-kun!" a raspy voice boomed out. It belonged to a flamboyant old woman, stunted and wrinkled, dressed in a frilly purple gown that covered her head to toe. Sakura was glad of it, because what showed was frightfully ugly. When the woman grinned, cinnamon smoke poured out between rotten teeth. "Tsunade-kun, my beautiful child! Come, it's been so long!"

And then she gripped the Hokage in a great hug. The Hokage could have been a statue, for all she moved in return. "Kikuko," the Hokage said. "I thought you had retired."

_That's_ _Kikuko_? Nobunaga Kikuko the Spinster was one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a legendary kunoichi. Sakura had seen her photograph in the intelligence dossier, but it must have been decades out of date.

The Spinster snorted. "So did I. I'll tell you true, the only way out of the shinobi world is the grave." The mist-nin sucked on her pipe, thick white smoke curling in the air as she studied the rest of the party. "Ah, Hyuuga. Frightful eyes. Have you ever considered wearing sunglasses?"

Hyuuga Hiashi's face was a sculpted white mask. "No."

She cackled. "For the rest of us, you understand." A hand swept out to touch Micho's shoulder. "And Micho Manslayer, you old dear. I see you've still not figured out how to use a comb. Would you like a smoke?"

The old doctor ran a hand through his tangled mane of white hair. "Thank you, Kikuko-sama, but no. I gave up smoking when I gave up killing. Too dangerous for my health, I'm afraid." He smiled faintly. "And for the health of others."

"Ah, yes. I remember now. No killing, and no smoking. Might as well give up that little mast between your legs, for all the good it does you." The woman turned again. "Ah… and _you_ must be Haruno Sakura. The tales I have heard are absolutely true. What a lovely young apprentice Tsunade-kun has acquired. I can already tell that you will be, how shall we say it, a most worthy successor in all the critical areas." Her beady eyes roving down Sakura's body, lingering on her chest.

"What are you staring at?" the Hokage snapped.

"Oh, I was just thinking of that phrase you apes are so fond of, how does it go? The next generation always surpasses the last." Suddenly without shame Kikuko reached over and with her dry wrinkled lips planted a kiss on the back of Sakura's hand.

"You dirty old woman," a girl declared behind them. "Grandpa's cursing you in hell."

Kikuko cackled again. "You must watch out for my student Yukari, sweet Sakura. She wants to steal you away."

Touin Yukari glared. She was a short girl, even shorter than her sensei, fierce and scrawny, a tomcat stuffed into the tight, dark blue genin uniform of Kiri. Though a cat without hair; the girl had shaved her head, bringing out the icy white of her skin, the sky blue of her eyes. Sakura remembered from the dossier that she was a B-rank Hyoton user. _The same bloodline as Haku_. And about the same age, only 13.

"Liar," Yukari said, "I'm not a pervert, like you."

"So you're both dykes, is that it?" Anake asked. She saw Micho raise his bushy gray eyebrows behind the boy. It was an amazingly rude question, especially to as senior a personage as Nobunaga Kikuko. But the old troll only laughed.

"You stupid," Yukari said, glaring even more fiercely. "You're just jealous I got more pussy than you'll ever get."

"Alas, our cruel kunoichi," said a smooth silky voice. "First they take our money, and then they take our power, and last they even take our women. Mercy, where art thou?"

The man who joined them now was lithe and dark, with a regal mouth and slitted eyes as black and shiny as pools of coal oil. Rich black hair receded from his brow in a widow's peak as sharply pointed as his nose. Sakura could have sworn he was Sosano's older brother, so alike they looked. But his clothing was entirely different. The man was dressed like a foppish hunter, in leather pants and riding boots; beneath an overcoat of patterned red silk, his shirt was armored with glittering bronze disks, and a necklace on a silver chain settled against his breast, a glittering amethyst shaped in the six-sided wheel of the Sage of Six Paths.

"Shirasu-san," the Hokage said softly.

Sougon Shirasu smiled. He was the Tsuchikage's younger brother but, if the rumors were true, their name was about the only thing they had in common. _The Black Sheep_, others called him. "Tsunade. Beautiful as always. Though your scars are gone. A pity… I did so like to trace them with my fingers." His eyes seemed to find Sakura, quick and sharp. "You know, once upon a time I proposed marriage to sweet Tsunade. I got on my knees and I vowed my undying love. Then she drew a kunai from between her breasts, and said, 'This is my one and only bride.' An improvement on any man's stick, I must admit, even mine. But perhaps with too sharp an edge."

"She was too gentle with you," Kikuko the Spinster laughed, blowing smoke rings from her pipe. "Do you know how Shirasu the Widower comes by his nickname? Before he beds a woman he asks her to wed him, and later, when he goes to seduce the next, he calls it a divorce. This man has more ex-wives than a beached rock has drops of bird shit."

"You wound me, my lady. I'm against divorce on religious principle, as you know. I am an avowed polygamist."

The Hokage seemed not to hear the entire exchange. She turned to the other man who had joined them along with Shirasu, inclining her head. "Director Doi-san. We last parted on Deathtrap Mountain."

Tokako Doi bowed, thin lips matching his spindly body. His dark face suddenly seemed pale. "I see you, Tsunade." He turned to Hyuuga Hiashi. "And you as well, Hiashi. Since we fought together against the Silla Brotherhood. Welcome, all of you, to the Overlook."

The stone-nin would have said more, but just there was a flurry of movement, and the serving girls were bowing and saying, "The Tsuchikage is coming."

Sougon Shirasu smirked. "Oh my. This will be _quite _the reunion."

* * *

Next: **CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: "The Overlook" [Part 2 of 3]**


	30. The Overlook Part 2 of 3

**Author's Note: **This is the second part of "The Overlook," and the main reason this chapter was such a bitch to write. Loads of new characters introduced, plus a dramatic confrontation between Tsunade and Sawar.

I'd like feedback on two main things:

1) Your impressions of the new characters (i.e. Sawar, Geigin, Jibachi, Montonobu, Muro, Arashi the Calculator, Ikoma, Darui, Dayu, Imanuel Burgouine… and more). Are any of them particularly memorable? Any ones you particularly like, or dislike?

2) The conversation itself. It's pretty heavy-duty stuff… but in my view also very important to the themes of the story. Boring? Interesting? In specific regards to the final debate on the chuunin exam, which POV (Tsunade, Sawar, Doi, Sakura, or Sosano) do you agree with, if any?

Thanks so much!

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: "The Overlook" [Part 2 of 3]**

* * *

Sougon Shirasu smirked. "Oh my. This will be _quite _the reunion."

A small party had emerged from the far wall, Iwa ninja dressed in simple gray robes, with traditional katana swords at their side, like the samurai of old. The man in the lead was not very large, nor very tall or muscular, but his presence was enormous. Sakura knew him at once. _Sougon Sawar, the Sun Breaker_.

He shared Shirasu's narrow eyes and sharp nose, his widow's peak, but otherwise she could not tell they were related, either by appearance or impression. There was a tightness to his face and flesh that spoke of leather cured in the heat until it was as tough as iron. Skin clung to his cheeks, showing the outline of bones, and his mouth seemed as if it had forgotten how to smile, and had never known how to laugh. _Hard_, Sakura thought. _He moves like a killer beast_.

Following the Tsuchikage were two genin, marked out by their forehead protectors, and the chuunin exam keys hanging down from their necks. Haghira Jibachi walked like a hunched giraffe, as if trying to hid his exceptionally long neck and his round ears. Beside him, Inuku Geigin was a stubby brown lizard. He grinned, a twisted tongue licking over his lips like a pink snake, and when he lifted his hands Sakura saw tongues growing there as well. Sosano's teammates, she knew.

Sosano was still nowhere to be found. No one seemed to note his absence, however; they were too busy bowing, even Tsunade-sensei. As guests in Iwa and in the home of the Tsuchikage, it was only polite.

The Tsuchikage bowed to them in return. "I see you," the Tsuchikage said. His voice was soft, but gravelly, and every syllable carried a cutting edge. His eyes roved over the gathered guests in one motion, before fixing on the Hokage. He seemed to want to burn her where she stood. "I welcome you to the Overlook, and to Iwa. Dinner is served. Be seated."

"A man of many words." Shirasu flashed a smile at Hokage, gesturing to the dinner tables. There were five of them, low traditional-style tables made of black cherry and laid out on raised platforms. "And now we must part ways, dear Tsunade. The Tsuchikage shall want you to join him at the center table. And I'll be over there, on the other side of the room. I fear my presence causes Sawar indigestion."

"You are his brother, Shirasu."

"Indeed? He has mistaken me for a mushroom. He keeps me in the dark and feeds me shit. As well, perhaps. Diplomacy is only manure of a different sort, and with a rather more tedious flavor." He winked at the Hokage. "Lady Kikuko, will you join me?"

The Spinster tittered, hooking her arm through Shirasu's. They left, along with Yukari. All the other guests was scattering as well, dispersing themselves among the tables. Then it was just Tsunade-sensei, her, and Director Doi. The Hokage nailed Sakura with a look. "Remember, girl, don't talk."

There were twenty places set along the center table, but no chairs; the guests sat cross-legged instead. Sponsored genin stood behind their sensei, off the dais. By unspoken agreement there was one representative from each village, plus a few diplomats. The Confederacy—Iwa, Kiri, Taki, and Numa—was sitting at one end, and the United Countries was at the other. Baki and Tosuken were already there, with Temari and Aumono.

The Fifth Hokage slipped off her shoes and stepped onto the raised table dais, taking a place between Baki and Tosuken. Standing behind her sensei, Sakura could just see over the Hokage's head. At the other end the Tsuchikage sat with shinobi from the Mist and Waterfall villages: Keel the Butcher, another of the Seven Swordsmen; and Misain Dayu the Cinder, so called for his rain of Mizuho fire. Sakura also saw Makoto Muro, Lord of the Blood Country and leader of Chi, as well as Ashuju Ikoma, the leader of the village of Dust. Nearly every other shinobi was just as renowned and famous.

This is the beginning, Sakura thought. The Hokage's words on Deathtrap Mountain echoed in the girl's mind. _Our mission is simple. We __must t__opple Sawar__, expose__ his conspiracy__, destroy the Annihilation Device, and bring the Earth Country into the United Countries_. This was the beginning of the shadow war. The fate of the world hung in the balance.

The Fourth Tsuchikage made the first move. In a cold flat tone he said, "Tsunade. It has been seventeen years. Yet you have not aged a day."

"An illusion, and a poor one," remarked the diplomat Shiranui Arashi. Known as the Calculator, he had been the lead negotiator of the Ashwarren Accords that ended the Third Ninja War and led to a generation of peace. Sakura was surprised he would take sides against the Hokage. Then again, he wasn't representing Konoha, but the Fire daimyo. _Does he intend to remain neutral?_ "I don't know who Hokage-sama means to fool," Arashi continued.

"Herself, of course," came the amused drawl of Makoto Muro from the center of the table. "Who else? It's said that any man who sees the true face of the Scarred Beauty must die… because she'll slit his throat after he does. But I would take my chances."

The Hokage raised her cup for a serving girl to fill with steaming green tea. "Pray forgive me, Lord Makoto, I must decline. A woman must have her vanity."

"Oh, but of course," said Urashima Montonobu. The fat, wrinkled man on the other end of the table smiled slowly. Montonobu was no ninja, but he was the head priest of Katsu-ji Temple, as well as Sougon Sawar's personal lawyer. _The Earth Country's most accomplished liar_. "Have you heard the story of the daughter of King Matsudake, lord of the Mushroom Isles? She was as hideous as the island she grew up on. It's said that she could make a man's dick fall off just by looking at him. I had the honor of seeing her once in my youth… that's why I'm now a priest, with a vow of eternal holy chastity." The others laughed; Ashuju Ikoma positively roared, slapping his thigh. Montonobu picked up a fat purple grape from a fruit basket and popped it into his mouth. "Holy Sage forgive me, there's nothing more wretched in this world than an ugly woman."

The Hokage's smile was like curdled milk. "It seems odd we would convene this dinner, just to talk about mushroom women."

Kasuga Darui of Kumo grinned, showing his black painted teeth, a ghastly sight in a pale white face. _Darui of the Black Cloud_, they called him. "Well, Tsunade… now that you bring it up, there is a topic on everyone's mind, neh? We've all been wondering for months now."

Akasun Baki butted in. "You are referring to the United Countries, yes?"

"Of course not," Darui said, to widespread laughter. "We are wondering how the Queen of Torment let Uchiha Sasuke slip through her fingers. An unprecedented international humiliation, neh?"

The Hokage looked like she had swallowed something unpleasant. "Orochimaru plucked the boy out from under us. That's the whole story."

"Is it, eh? The last member of the Uchiha clan..."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed to slits, and for a moment Sakura thought Tsunade-sensei was watching her out of the corner of her eye. "I sent a team to bring the boy back. They failed."

"A team of pipsqueak brats," pointed out Ashuju Ikoma. When the leader of Dasuto village spoke, a soft whistling sound came out of the gaping black hole in his face where his nose should have been. Ikoma did not seem to notice.

"It was the only team available."

"Aye. As tiny as tits on a bull, and even more useless. You could've sent yourself. Or one of those bunshin clones of yours. There're more of 'em than farts at a steam-nin picnic, if I ain't count wrong."

"Curious, neh?" Darui added. "Very curious."

"Curious? I think not." Sougon Sawar spoke at last, though no one had forgot him. "Tsunade is only doing what she always does. Gambling. She has never learned that she is no good at it."

The Hokage's eyes met the Tsuchikage's. "An interesting metaphor, Sawar. What's the game, and what are the odds? Is it the United Countries? Look around you. We are gathered here tonight to debate the great issues of the day, calmly, rationally. Regardless of whether you intend to sign a treaty or not, you are already part of the spirit of the United Countries. Or do you mean the possibility of peace? I say again, look around you. These young men and women are here to take part in a grand contest that will foster lasting friendships between our villages. None of them have known war in their lifetimes. My lords, I will not mince words with you, nor dance around my meaning. The United Countries has come to Iwa for one purpose only, and that is to spread a message. Open your hearts and minds, and you will know the truth of what I say. Peace is already here, my fellow shinobi. It has been here for seventeen years. And our message is this. Peace is ours. We only have to not let it slip away."

The Tsuchikage scowled. "You have a way with words—I will not deny it. But that is all that you ever had. Peace, you say. I say it is a false peace. As false as you, Betrayer."

There was a short pause. Baki stepped into the breach. "You have your differences with Konoha, Tsuchikage-sama. We understand that. I have had my quarrels as well. Yet I also remember a time, not so long ago, when many of us around this table fought together, as comrades, against the Silla Brotherhood in a battle of screaming snow. Was that a false day as well?"

"It was a day of justice," said Sougon Sawar. "The Dancing Ninja and his band of outlaws reaped what they had sown. Woe to him, and to all those who dare to challenge the people of Earth. Their time will come as well."

"Tsuchikage-sama, if I may interrupt," Montonobu said. "I admire Baki-sama's valiant effort to promote this, ah, United Countries. No one can question your sincerity to the cause, sir. But it seems—ah, yes, thank you. More sauce." The servants had begun to serve dinner, and a big hunk of smoked pheasant and fried prawns stuffed with sweet potatoes had been set down in front of Montonobu. Montonobu eyed the prawns greedily, before returning to his grapes. "It seems that the representative from Rain has not yet been heard. I wonder, Tosuken-sama, at the attitude of the rain-nins toward this venture?"

Densuke Tosuken the Chameleon shrugged, elephantine muscles rippling as he cocked his bare head. "Lord Hanzou made a deal with the Queen of Torment. It was not my decision."

"And you would have made a different one? If you could?"

"You speak in vague hypotheticals. If you had a pussy, then you would be a woman, and not half so ugly. But you are only a fat wrinkled lawyer."

Misain Dayu laughed. "He's got you there, Urashima."

"Tell me, what did the Princess promise you to join her?" Montonobu pressed the rain-nin. "Money? Lands?"

"More than you did, lawyer."

"Of course. I did not offer anything."

"That is a lie."

"Is it? You cannot prove it. It's my word against yours, but in the end it does not matter. We are all liars here, every one, and every one of us is better than your Queen Bitch."

"I dislike that name," the Hokage interrupted. "I much prefer the 'Whore of Leaves.'"

"My apologies, m'lady. I shall make a note of it. The Uchiha boy escaped by himself? Orochimaru is the leader of Akatsuki? _The United Countries is an organization of peace_?" Montonobu chortled. "These are not lies, they are sheer delusions. Next she shall be selling us unicorns and fairy castles."

Kasuga Darui was sipping at his blowfish soup. Painted black nails flashed in red lantern light. "And what lie is Iwa selling, neh?" he asked.

"A lie you can believe in, Darui-sama." Montonobu plucked another grape from the basket, and squeezed it between thumb and forefinger until the skin burst. Juice ran down between his fingers. He smiled. "War."

The Hokage seemed taken aback. "You speak of madness."

"Justice," said the Tsuchikage. "Duty. Honor. Things that you never understood, Tsunade."

"That's where your madness lies. You speak openly of a Fourth Ninja War. The death of millions, most of them innocent. Children, infants. That is no form of justice I know. Nor any form that Seurin would understand."

Sougon Sawar's eyes narrowed, glinting dangerously. For half a second Sakura thought he would make them burning flames. "_How dare you_," he spat.

Arashi the Calculator moved to calm things down. "My lords, this is a celebratory dinner. Neither of you seem to be eating. In my diplomatic experience, great things can be achieved on occasions such as this, but rarely on an empty stomach. I implore you both, let us feast while the food is still hot. I heartily recommend the tortoise eggs and pickled tofu."

"You forgot the wine." Makoto Muro chuckled with that languid drawl of his, raising his cup. "Spiced and strong as a bitch in heat. Shall we have a toast?"

The conversation settled down for a time, after that. Guests talked in small groups, mostly trading gossip or old battle stories, with little political content. Meanwhile serving girls brought in the dinner courses, one after the other: crushed chestnuts dipped in citrus sauce, strips of broiled fish cakes, steamed beef mixed with sweetened black soybeans, simmered mushrooms, radish and carrot soup, blue-backed fish, tender lotus roots roasted in red peppers and garlic, steamed meat buns, shaved ice flavored with syrup, rice balls wrapped with nuts, more and more, more than Sakura could count.

A feast, it was, and plainly delicious, for everything was eaten as fast as it arrived. Only the Hokage and the Tsuchikage had no appetite, settling instead for silence, glowering looks, and almost comical attempts to stare at each other without seeming to stare. Sakura cared very little for food—Ino liked to tease her that her tongue was thick as a branch, and just as dead—but watching Tsunade-sensei throw everything on her plate was positively painful.

Sakura's head was hurting, too. _What did Montonobu mean?_ _Why do they think Sasuke couldn't escape? And Orochimaru… _she did not want to dwell on those questions, though. She suspected they would lead nowhere good, and that wasn't what she had to concentrate on right now. The chuunin exam would begin at midnight, in only a few hours. Now was the time to study those she would be fighting.

The other genin evidently had the same thought, for they were all eyeing each other—at least when they were not eyeing the food instead. None of them were allowed to touch the food, and if they could speak they did not try it. _We're here as potted plants, showpieces for our villages_.

The showpieces were overwhelming male, for the most part. Besides Temari and herself, the only girls were the B-rank kunoichi Higeru Shinren, of the River village Kawagakure, and Unchiku Nonou, of the Wave village Namigakure—a new village, established after Team 7's mission there a year ago.

The boys were all either B rank, or higher, and half of them had bloodlines as well. There was Ashuju Ryua, who had inherited his grandfather Ikoma's missing nose; the albino cloud-nin Kirazu Raiki, who lit himself up like an X-ray with electric flashes; the all-too familiar Yasunari Tontero, a carbon copy of his uncle Zetsu; the disturbed pyromaniac Misain Sebi of Waterfall; and the infamous shark-man Hoshigaki Makera, among others. As luck would have it, most of them were in the Confederacy. _I'm fighting a bunch of freaks_.

The strongest genin was not there. Between Makera and Sebi, behind the Tsuchikage, there was a blank space. _Sosano_. Where was he? His father did not seem disturbed by his absence, and Tsunade-sensei did not remark on it.

It was the Ambassador from Genoa across the sea, a man who wore a strange striped suit and the even stranger name of Imanuel Burgouine, who at last broached the subject. "And I have heard so much of this Prince of Dawn," he told Montonobu in his curious southern accent, "but he has not seen fit to join us."

"The boy is visiting his grandmother," Montonobu answered idly, munching on fish cakes. "Or so he says. I rather think he has a distracted air about him lately. Far off looks, poignant sighs, things like that." When the priest smiled the wrinkles on his face stretched like fingertips after a hot bath. "If you'll permit me an indirection, I believe at this moment he's pulling the clothes off some girl."

"Ah. I am quite familiar with what you mean. In Genoa, it is a universal practice for soldiers to seek out the pleasure of release before they go into battle."

"Yes, and at every other time as well, so I hear. I fear we do things a bit differently in the North, Mr. Burgouine. As you see, we prefer to starve our soldiers to death." He gestured to the standing genin.

The Tsuchikage looked up at that, shooting the two men a cold look. "Why should they eat? Gluttony is no part of the shinobi way. I agreed to this dinner only because the High Council forced me to. You can thank Shirasu for that little scheme. Very well, if grown men shall be pigs, so be it. I cannot stop them. But let the young remember what a ninja truly is."

"You're living in the past, Sawar." The Hokage had not spoken directly to the Tsuchikage for hours. "The war is over. I begin to grasp why you so easily dismiss the fruits of peace. It's because you have never bothered to enjoy them."

"The fruits of peace?" The Tsuchikage's words were gravel on dry stone. "You are a fool, Tsunade. Look around you. Peace, you say. What does peace mean to this lot of children, when before the night is over a good part of them will be dead?"

"You are the fool. The chuunin exam is violent, yes. But a controlled violence, entirely different from the chaos of war. Certainly further reforms should be implemented to prevent needless death or injury. A ban on live fighting would suffice. I will be sure to make it part of the agenda of the United Countries."

"You mean to eliminate courage from the chuunin exams."

"You may call that courage, I call it insanity."

"Neither, Tsunade," said Tokako Doi softly. It was the first time he had spoken all dinner. "It is simply our way, freely given, and freely chosen. The stakes are high, yes, but so are the rewards. For in battle we are judged not by wealth, or birth, or the color of our skin. But only by our strength, as soldiers and as leaders of men. We are all, in that most fundamental sense, equal. This is the ideal of the shinobi village, and of the chuunin exam. And, if I may say so, it deserves our highest respect. Peace is a noble aim, and one which we welcome in Iwa. But if you mean to change our very way of life, then I must tell you, that we do not want to change."

"Well said, Doi!" applauded Ashuju Ikoma. Many others nodded their heads.

The Hokage seemed to know she had overreached. "You mistake me, Director," she said quickly. _And not very convincingly_, Sakura thought.

"It is my sincere hope that I do."

The Lord of the Blood Country smiled. "I think there's a better way to settle this. After all, we are speaking of the very brats around this table. Let's ask them, shall we?" He looked right at Sakura, dark dirty eyes twinkling with malice. "How about the Fifth's personal apprentice? Do you agree with this… _reform_ of the chuunin exam?"

Sakura met the blood-nin's gaze, and tried not to swallow. "I don't know. I just want to do my best."

"Spoken like a true leaf ninja." Muro chuckled. "You always do."

"But it's not a game," Sakura continued suddenly. She surprised even herself with her words, tumbling one after the other. "Not for us, anyway. We're just kids, we don't know about strategy, or politics, or whatever. But we do know this. You great shinobi, you village leaders, you old men who sit around and drink and feast and move pieces around a board, and decide war and peace with lies and secrets. Justice, you call it. When you high lords play your game of justice, it's always us who live or die."

There was a short silence.

Then a voice came from behind her. "Well, yes. Those would seem to be the only two options." It was a knife through the air, soft and sharp, mocking and gentle, and Sakura knew it at once.

Montonobu laughed. "Impeccable timing, Sosano. As always."

"You know I aim to be fashionably late." In the bright light of the dinner hall, Sosano's resemblance to his uncle Shirasu struck Sakura even more strongly. His dashing smile was the same, his quick and playful eyes. But he was wearing the same gray robes as his father, and carrying the same katana sword. And when he approached the dais he bowed low and deep.

"I'm sorry, Father. You know how Grandmother gets. Always so worried I'll set off on a mission and never come back."

"Utter stupidity," said Sougon Sawar, frowning. The Tsuchikage was as clipped and cold with his only son as he was with anyone else. "She clings to you now more than when you were in diapers and swaddling clothes. If that woman were not my own mother, I swear, I'd have put her out to pasture long ago."

"That is no way to talk, Father. I rather enjoyed the visit, truth be told. Grandmother makes a wonderful roast hare pie." Sosano took his place behind the Tsuchikage as all the genin shot him dirty looks. He smiled at Sakura, eyes closing to slanted arches. "My attitude toward the chuunin exam is really quite simple. All men must die, and shinobi rather faster than most. But first we'll live. What say you to that, Sakura?"

_I'm here, aren't I?_ "I don't think it would work so well the other away around."

Sosano smiled again. "Right to the heart of the matter. Won't you join me outside?" He gestured to a doorway cut in the stone wall, leading outside to the Overlook's balcony. "I wish to show you something. With your permission, Father, of course."

The boy did not wait for a reply, either from her, or his father. One instant he was bowing, walking away as he did so, and then in another he was up and out of sight.

They were all staring at her now, the jounin sensei, the genin, and the Tsuchikage most of all, a scowling frown that sent a shiver down her spine. The lawyer Urashima Montonobu was tapping his fingertips together. "Oh, my," he giggled, "this is unexpected. _Her_?"

Sakura leaned down to hear her sensei's whisper. "Go," the Hokage hissed.

"Follow him?"

"Yes. But remember who you are. He's after you for a reason. Go find out what he wants."

Sakura did as she was told.

* * *

Next:** CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: "The Overlook" [Part 3 of 3]**


	31. The Overlook Part 3 of 3

**Author's Note: **This is the last part of "The Overlook." I'm going to leave it up for a couple weeks and then combine the three parts into one completed chapter.

For this part specifically, I want feedback on Iwagakure. Does the layout make sense? Is it clear? What do you think of Sosano's interpretation?

Thanks so much!

* * *

**WILL OF STONE**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: "The Overlook" [Part 3 of 3]**

Sakura did as she was told. Outside, Sougon Castle spread out all around her. She did not see Sougon Sosano until she looked up. He was leaning on a battlement wall at the very top of the Overlook, his back to Sakura. The golden Sougon clan crest stitched onto his kimono glittered in moonlight. Sakura climbed the stone-cut steps up to where he was.

"You called me out here," Sakura said.

"And do you know why?"

Sakura remembered what the boy had said to her two nights ago. "Because of fate, I suppose."

Sosano laughed lightly as he turned. "Yes, in a way. Because there will never, ever, be another night like this one." He bowed, then spread his hands around him. "And I wished to show you. I see you, Haruno Sakura. Look."

Before her, to the west, mountain shadows loomed like great black snakes. Somewhere out there were the three great gorges called the Scar, she knew, and the Dreamstone River which had carved them out of the mountains. It was all covered in inky darkness, a fog of black that vanished into a bottomless mouth. _I see nothing, _she meant to say, but when she turned around a sudden blaze of light almost drew her breath away.

Below them, on the other side of the Overlook, the lights of the village had come on. For a moment Sakura thought of Suna, of red crumbling walls and hanging tombs, of flashing kites swooping in a windswept cliff and a pillar of light blazing in a dark night. She thought of Ame, of rain falling in curtains over a metal city, of mazes of rusted steel and a black spire against the clouds. She thought of the rolling grass steppes of Kusa, the roaring silver spires of Taki, the twisty creaking canals and polebarges of Kawa, the grasping Five Towers of Ashwarren in sunset shadow. And of Konoha, climbing the rock face of Hokage Mountain, to look over the village that was her home, to look upon the streets she had walked, the forests she had trained in, Ramen Ichiraka and Naka Shrine and Hashirama Square and the Steam Gardens, and the little apartment by the blacksmith where she had spent most of her life, and the big house with the red door where she had been born and her father had coughed and wasted away and died on the last day of the year.

Iwagakure was all of those things, it seemed, and more.

From the peak of the Overlook, she could see the whole village spread before her, all the way to Onden Barrier in the far east, where the two strands of the Dreamstone, the White and the Yellow Rivers, rejoined after being split apart by the Overlook. Iwa was more or less shaped like a fat eye, running from east to west. The central island was the eyeball, and the two rivers the eyelids. Six bridges crossed across their span, three on either bank: the Lion, Bat, and Wasp to the south, and the Deer, Slug, and Spider to the north. Tiny fishing boat lights glittered off the meandering Yellow river, and beyond them rose a jumble of dark, hulking shapes. Sakaicho, she knew. The slum area of Iwa, populated with landfills, pockmarked training grounds, and the buried mass of Sakaicho Prison.

The village proper was divided into four sections, two at the tips of the eye and two squeezing the center. In the east, the rural Onden district was a maze of terraced rice paddies, flooded at this time of year for the summer planting. The dark water was broken only by the sloping forms of Onden Barrier and ANBU Headquarters. Southwest of Onden was Aoyama, a large residential district that housed the Zoo, the Iwa Ninja Academy, the Chuunin Exam Stadium, and the infamous Noatari Tower. It was abandoned and said to be haunted with the ghosts of a mass suicide hundreds of years previous. To the north, along the banks of the rushing White River, was Shitamachi, a bustling nightlife and waterfront entertainment district. Amidst the dazzling neon lights, Sakura could just make out a dark hill lined with trees, as beautiful as it was lonely. That could only be Tsukai Gardens, she knew, famed all over the Earth Country for its carefully cultivated perfection. Beyond Shitamachi, across the river, was the wild, tangled Sagewood.

West of Shitamachi and Aoyama, at the tip of the island, was Kuramae. The heart of Iwa. It was arranged like a fan, with broad avenues converging toward the Overlook. Directly below her, she could see Onoki Square, and the most important buildings in Iwa arrayed around it: Kindness Hospital, Katsu-ji Temple, the Iwa Council Chambers. It was just as large as Hashirama Square in Konoha, but even more dense, even more magnificent. There was no wood or brick, here, but only stone, the priceless dreamstone coveted the world over, white as snow and light as plastic and harder than the finest steel.

The vista was utterly unlike what Sakura had seen three days ago, when she entered Iwa for the first time. Then, the village had been empty, cold. _The heart of Iwa_, she had thought, _a heart of stone_.

She thought the same now, but somehow the stone had transfigured itself, pulsing with people and laughter, with the buzz of street hawkers, the wafting smell of frying fish and barbequed chicken. Red lanterns lined every street and alleyway, and blazing fires swathed ancient stone in warm light. They were brooding, pyramidal shapes, but in the flickering fire they seemed to come to life. _Iwa is the earth and the stones_, a voice echoed inside her_. Here, we come to be alive. Here, we think most of those close to us, and want them to share in our hearts_.

Sougon Sosano was looking at her with dark, glinting eyes.

"Do you see?" he asked softly.

"It's like an Earth garden," Sakura said.

"Yes." Sosano moved closer. "That is exactly right. In the rest of the world, gardens tend to be symmetrical. But the Earth garden is asymmetrical, and this is because the asymmetrical has the greater power to symbolize multiplicity and vastness. So Anayama Tokusai remarks, with a spray of flowers, a bit of water, one evokes the vastness of rivers and mountains. That is how we see beauty in the Earth Country. And so it is with Iwa, writ large." He pointed with his fingers, showing her. "The Overlook is a stone placed at the head of the village, dividing it in two, as a man is divided from a woman. The Yellow River is a muddy creek, and the White River a pebbled brook. Sakaicho is a hard rocky face, and the Sagewood a wall of vines. The steps of Onden Barrier are prayer ponds. Kuramae is an open courtyard. In between, in the same place as the heart is on a chest, is Tsukai Gardens, a blossom within the bamboo grove of Shitamachi. Aoyama is a shadowed house, and Noatari Tower a hidden cave. Onden, Shitamachi, Aoyama, and Kuramae. The four corners of one island garden, as the four organs of the body, as the four seasons. In the spring, cherry blossoms, in the summer the cuckoo. In autumn the moon, and in winter the clear, cold snow."

Sakura stared at the sight for a long time. "It's very beautiful," she said at last. "Thank you, Sosano. For showing me this night."

He bowed. "Of course."

Sakura breathed deeply, taking in the cool mountain air, the taste of mist and spray and stone. "It's… it feels sad, somehow. A little bit. Like a bittersweet song."

"Yes. The river is sad, and the stone is tired. And this night most of all."

"Why?"

"Because before it is over, blood will cover them both. The First Trial begins, and many young lives end. Death is in the very earth."

Sakura looked away. _All men must die, and shinobi rather faster than most_. Below, in Onoki Square, the genin were already gathering. Hundreds of young people milled about the plaza. It could have been a dance, a concert, except that the dancers were wearing shinobi armor and holding steel blades. In one corner she saw Team Asuma, Ino grabbing her ponytail, Chouji rubbing his stomach, Anake with head raised up to look at the crescent moon, thin and pale as a sickle of ice. A wind blew from the mountains, prickling her skin. When she looked back, Sosano's robe was flapping, and his long black braid fluttered against the clouds. Moonlight reflected off the stone of the Overlook and made the boy's forehead protector gleam like silver.

"But first we'll live," Sakura said softly.

The stone-nin's voice was smooth as smoke. "Yes."

Then he was close, so close. She could feel his power, his strength, his beauty. _Find out what he wants_, the Hokage had told her. _Remember who you are._ And suddenly she saw him again, a boy with skin pale as the moon, and hair black as a raven's, and eyes that were as dark and red as living blood, the boy she had loved, the boy who had met her on a frozen bridge and told her that she was a spring girl, and that she could never come with him.

"What do you want?" she whispered.

"You ask me that question again. You know what I want."

"We're enemies."

"Are we?" It was not a question. "A word, a phrase, a belief. So often they complicate a simple thing. A boy sees a girl, a girl sees a boy. I saw you on that night, Sakura, and I looked into your eyes. Eyes like the bright green forest, sweet and young and sure. But something else, too. A secret glimmer, a darker truth. Something strong. It frightened me, it thrilled me. And then I knew I was still alive. "

And then his arms were moving, he was leaning down and pressing his mouth to hers. They kissed. Sakura did not close her eyes, nor did Sosano. Instead they stared at each other as their lips touched. His lips were soft as silk and warm as a summer night. But she did not move. _Remember who you are_. His black eyes were right against hers, and she wondered when they would become burning flames.

Then the kiss was over, and Sosano pulled away. He swallowed, breathing in heavy gulps. For an instant all his charm, his smooth appeal, left him, and then he was just another confused boy. "That…" he managed to say, "That could've gone better."

Between Sakura's breasts her chuunin exam key was hot to the touch, as hot as the chakra-cast kunai in her hand. "It could've gone worse."

The boy frowned. He opened his mouth to say more, but just then there was a sound, deep and ringing and filling the wind. _Bells_. Sakura looked for the source, and saw that it was coming from Onoki Square. And then she knew why the bells tolled.

It was midnight.

Sosano stepped back. "The First Trial begins." He licked his lips, and swallowed again. His eyes were black narrow slits. "I… I must go. I see you, Sakura." Then he turned and walked away quickly.

Sakura lingered a long moment, watching the village below. Deep brass beats wailed across the Overlook, again and again, a roaring dirge of thunder. When Sakura went back inside Sougon Castle, the guests were already gone, and only a few servants remained to clean up after them.

The Hokage was waiting for her. "What happened with the Sougon boy?"

"He's interested in me," Sakura admitted. "He… he kissed me."

She expected her sensei to be upset, but instead the Hokage said, "Good. He's let his guard down. If he's any sort of man, he'll try to kiss you again. Perhaps even tonight. Let him do it."

Sakura felt the chill in her sensei's voice. "And then?"

"And then? Sakura, you poor sweet fool, then you kill him."

* * *

Next: **THE FIRST TRIAL: "The Night Hunt" **


End file.
